The Shepard of Tales
by Lament Blueberries
Summary: Amnesia, a condition in which one's memory is lost. She couldn't remember anything about herself, not even her name. All she remembered were a pair of deep blue eyes and the smell of tobacco. OC submission now closed!
1. OC form

**A/N: **I'd like to say a few things that'd be nice to know before you start filling in the OC form. First of all I apologize there not being any prologue combined with this form; I'd planned on posting them together, but because I still don't have a beta and I need the OC informations to start writing the actual story, I ended up posting only the form. There will, however, be a prologue and I'll post it as soon as I have it beta read.

Secondly, I'd like to remind you that this a M-rated fic due to violence, bad language and darkish themes, but nothing sexual though. Most of the chapters will probably be rated T at most, but there will be a few darker chapters and I just want to be safe with the ratings. I'll include separate chapter-ratings and warnings on every chapter so you'll know what to expect.

Also, as genres go, this will be mixture of adventure, drama and friendship, possibly with a dash of romance and tragedy to spice things up, so quite a cocktail.

And now with those things in mind I'll now briefly introduce my OC, whose story you'll read more about in the near future.

Elyssa, or Tabitha - as she's known as through most of the story - is a 19 year-old girl, who after a certain chain of events wakes up in Cherrygrove Central Clinic, only to discover she can't remember anything about herself or what caused her to get hospitalized. The only things she seems to remember are a pair of deep blue eyes and the smell of tobacco. After recovering from her injuries, she sets off on a journey to find out who she is and what on earth happened to her.

That's all I can give away about her for now, I'm afraid, but what I can tell you are some main events plot-wise. The story starts off in Johto, as you might have already guessed, and continues on towards Kanto and/or Sinnoh, eventually ending in Hoenn. Elyssa/Tabitha will encounter your OCs during her travels across the different regions, your OCs having both larger and minor roles as the story progresses. I'll be picking 2-3 OCs to travel along with her, though I'll also need more OCs for smaller roles. I'm almost 100% sure I'll use all submitted characters as long as they're done properly, meaning you have to read the info on the form.

Well, I guess that's all for now. You can enter your OC either via review or PM, whichever works for you. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave a review telling me what you think of the story so far, though I know there's not much to go on, yet.

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><p><span>OC form for "The Shepard of Tales"<span>

Name: first name will be enough unless you also want to include their last name

Gender: male or female

Age: preferably older characters because of the dark themes, but if you absolutely want to expose a 10-year old rookie trainer to such themes it's not like I can stop you

Hometown and region: where your character grew up

Appearance: Hair, eyes, body type, height, clothes, accessories, etc. Please give a precise description if certain features matter to you.

Personality: If you want your character in a larger role, please write down everything need-to-know about them. Well-designed, interesting characters make me want to pick them for this story and I'll more likely do a better job in writing them accordingly to your wishes when given enough information about them. So please, give me at least five full sentences of what your character is like.

History: What happened to your character before this story takes place and why are they in Johto/Kanto/Sinnoh/Hoenn at the moment? Please try not to overdramatize your character's history; not everyone can come from social-extremities or suffer from horrible childhood traumas; for example, if your character was unfortunate enough to be abandoned/orphaned at a young age, they can't live on their own, the only exception being that they are old enough to become a trainer and travel. Again, write down everything need-to-know that you want the character to reveal in the story.

Family: Your character's closest family members (parents, guardian, siblings, etc.) and anything need-to-know about them (for example the relationship they share with your character, where they live, their jobs…). No use talking about the estranged fifth cousin from your character's step-mother's side if they don't play any role in your character's life.

Occupation: What does your character do? It can be anything; a trainer, coordinator, traveling artist, an undercover police agent... you name it. I'll have you know some of my characters in this story are hit men, mercenaries and even renegade trainers, following the theme.

Strengths and weaknesses: No one's perfect. It'd be nice to see something more original traits than the usual overly intelligent, often overpowered person whose only fault is snoring.

Relationship with Elyssa/Tabitha: What is your character's relationship with her (friend, foe, traveling partner, etc.) and what do they think of her the first time the two meet? What about as they get to know her? Do they have a deep or shallow relationship? These are just a few of the countless questions you could answer. Your character and Elyssa/Tabitha's relationship can be anything from adoration to loathing; it's your pick.

Miscellaneous: Anything worth knowing not mentioned in the other segments.

Pokémon: Your character can have up to six Pokémon with them on their journeys, suited for whatever your character does. Mention what stage the Pokémon are on, if they evolve, what moves they have (max. 4), and anything else worth mentioning. I'd be grateful if you didn't give nicknames to them to make it easier to remember who's who. If your character catches new Pokémon during the story tell me what they catch and where (region will do). Your Pokémon can have any moves they can learn in their current stages, levels aside. Also, be reasonable with your teams; no legendary or full teams of pseudo-legendary or shiny Pokémon. List your team as you like.

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><p>Example form (only the first 5):<p>

Name: Elyssa/Tabitha "Tabby"

Gender: female

Age: 19

Hometown and region: Jubilife City, Sinnoh

Appearance: Elyssa is about 5'3'' tall and has a slim figure. She has long, Prussian blue hair that reaches her mid-back and is cut in layers with overgrown bangs that she wears pushed to the left side of her face. She has greyish blue eyes that have a habit of turning a darker shade of blue whenever she experiences strong emotions. Before loosing her memory she used lots of black eye-makeup. She has five piercings on her right ear and permanent long scars on her calves.  
>Elyssa wears a red and dark grey horizontally striped long-sleeved t-shirt, tight low fitting black pants and black boots with grey shoelaces. Her other belongings are packed in a grey cotton bag that she carries on her left shoulder, her Poké Balls attached to the long, thick shoulder strap.<p>

Guess you got to hear more about Elyssa after all, huh?


	2. Prologue

**A/N: **A few quick words before I leave you to your reading. Firstly I'd like to thank all the people who've put this fic on story alert, submitted OCs and even already favorited though the story's just beginning. I really appreciated the encouraging thoughts you all had about this fic and I can only hope to fulfill your expectations. As I've already informed some of you, I'm aiming to post new chapters once or twice a month and the first actual chapter will most likely be posted in January. I'm still having no luck in finding a beta but I'd like to think I can manage without one at least for this prologue. I proofread the thing multiple times and I apologize if there's a few mistakes here and there, but it should be fairly readable. I'd appreciate it if you could point out some of the mistakes so I'll know what to focus on in the future.

I'm still accepting OCs and will be doing so for at least a week longer, after which I'll have to start deciding what roles they play in the story. It seems most of the submitted characters are male, which is fine and not that surprising considering the theme of the story. The thing that I find funny is that all the guys seem to be on some kind of growth steroid; the average height is over 6 feet. Elyssa's going to look like such a shrimp compared to these guys :'D

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope you all like the prologue!

**chapter rating: **K+  
><strong>warnings: <strong>mild swearing

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><p>Prologue:<p>

A young blonde woman dressed in a light blue button-down shirt and a knee-length, tulip skirt entered the employee kitchen and walked straight to the coffee machine at the other end of the small room, sighing in relief as she saw freshly made coffee waiting in the coffeepot. She hastily grabbed a mug out of one of the kitchen cabinets and poured herself a steaming cup of coffee, eyes fluttering shut with bliss as she took a quick sip of the bitter liquid.

For a second she curses the fact that even she, the secretary of the company director, had to use the lousy employee kitchen that was located on the third floor of the seven story building she worked at, her desk at the very top of the building, just before the director's office. The seventh floor had its own private cafeteria but the only time she was permitted to enter it was when she brought coffee and other beverages for the director and/or his guests.

On the other hand she was rather grateful that she had to use the third floor kitchen instead because it meant she could take longer breaks from her work than if she had the use of the coffee machine in her own floor. And besides, the coffee they served here wasn't that bad and it at least served the same purpose.

She slowly made her way back towards her desk on the top floor, thanking her luck that she was permitted to use the elevator. After a matter of seconds she was at the seventh floor once again and made her way to her desk, setting down her large mug as she slowly sat back down in her chair. Her eyes quickly found the towering stack of yellowish files and papers she'd had the pleasure of sorting the last nine hours, her job only halfway done. She groaned as she thought of the work still ahead; she'd be here all night again.

Sighing in defeat, she once again resumed on her work, ever so often taking a few sips of coffee to fuel her onwards. She'd made it through another dozen papers and files when her concentration was suddenly broken by heavy, rushed footsteps that echoed in the maze of hallways just behind the corner. A few seconds later a man dressed in a black suit ran around the corner, his facial expression frantic as he proceeded to make his way into the director's office that was just behind a set of double doors on the woman's rear left. She immediately jumped from her seat and rushed to stop the man.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't just barge in like that!" she shrieked at him as she tried to grab hold of him before he could reach the door.

"I don't have time for this Frieda. I have to see him _now_!" the man responded as she grabbed his arm, only to have it ripped away from her grasp the very next second. "You have no idea how serious this is!" he continued, but she had the feeling it wasn't her he was talking to as he muttered the few last words over and over again.

She tried her best to suppress a snarl as she witnessed the man shamelessly open the doors to their employer's office and almost stumbled in with her hot on his trail.

"How dare you! Mr. Boivin doesn't handle employee matters until next Tuesday!" she snapped at him but was ignored completely. "You can't -"

"Mr. Boivin, sir! Trouble, big trouble!" the man spoke as he hurried towards the director's desk, gaining a pointed stare from Frieda who couldn't believe the man's total lack of respect. She turned to face the director in attempts to explain.

"I'm so sorry sir! I tried to stop him but he just wouldn't take no for an answer."

Deep blue eyes held hers for a moment before they shifted to the black suited man who had finally reached the desk. A deep frown formed on the director's face as he recognized his unexpected guest. It was Keegan from the fifth floor; part of the group managing up-coming projects, thus having knowledge of classified information. He couldn't remember the man's first name, though.

"Trouble?" he repeated in a low voice, hands signaling the man to further elaborate the situation. Keegan did so by reaching into one of his pockets and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper, hastily handing it to the blue-eyed man.

Mr. Boivin slowly unfolded the paper and read its contents, his right eyebrow twitching slightly as he read on.

"Get me a glass of brandy Frieda, you're permitted to go home afterwards," he spoke in a low voice, his eyes never leaving the paper as he ordered his staff around.

She hesitated for a second, not understanding what was going on. A small wince escaped her throat when the director shot her a hard glare, making her nearly run out the room. Only after she'd closed the door did Mr. Boivin focus his glare onto the other man.

"How and when did you get ahold of this letter, Keegan?" he questioned, dangling said letter between his fingers.

"Less than ten minutes ago! A swarm of Ninjask suddenly appeared inside the building and after we got them harried out I found the letter. It all happened so fast! They must've gotten in from an open window," Keegan explained, still looking a bit shocked. "I ran here as soon as I understood the severity of the situation."

The director nodded once, returning his eyes to the piece of paper he'd dropped onto his desk. "Ninjask, huh?" he murmured deep in thought before continuing. "Did anyone else read the contents of this paper?"

"No sir, only me."

"Good, then I know who to fire if word of this gets out," he gave the man a cold glare, the threat hanging in the air like a hand ready to strike someone in the face. Keegan gulped.

"Do you know who it is, sir? The person blackmailing you?" he asked bravely, curiousness latching onto his mind. An incredulous expression appeared on his face. "Who'd be stupid enough to even try?"

Mr. Boivin suppressed the urge to smile at the man's last comment. He nodded his head slowly, staring at the anonymously written message.

"A very foolish, greedy person," he replied slowly, a tight frown forming on his face. "And I just happen to know who that person is."

"What are you going to do sir? I mean, you can hardly go to the police…" Keegan trailed off, knowing that the situation was beyond difficult.

Mr. Boivin lifted his elbows onto his desk and laced his fingers together, resting his chin on top of them so he could think about his options. Things were looking rather bad. He couldn't go to the police about the matter, already knowing things would end up much worse than if he didn't get them involved. On the other hand he couldn't risk not cooperating with his blackmailer, for they'd rat him out to the police in a heartbeat if he didn't. Either way, all three of his given options – cooperate, call the police, or ignore the whole situation - seemed to benefit his blackmailer and it infuriated him to be backed up against a corner and having no other choice than to pay up.

He let out a frustrated sigh as his eyes darted once more to the letter.

"_Crucial evidence linking the director of Boivin Co. to the fatal "accident" in Rusturf Tunnel last April will be presented to the police if said director does not cooperate and pay a total of 500 000 Poké Dollars by the end of this month. The money is to be placed inside a blue bag and left outside the Hoenn Safari Zone's main entrance on said day at midday sharp."_

The note was written in messy handwriting he remembered seeing a few times before and even though the letter went on anonymous, he knew the person behind the blackmailing. Or attempted blackmail if he had his way.

"_That son of a bitch, thinking he can milk me for money..._" he thought as he reached into the inside pocket of his black suit jacket and pulled out one of his personal cell-phones.

Keegan gave him a hopeful look, figuring out his employer had thought up of a plan. "Sir?" he asked.

Mr. Boivin grinned darkly as he dialed one of his more frequently used numbers and listened as it started to connect the call.

"I think this is a matter best left for the 'cleaning crew'," he stated in a low voice, grinning at his choice of words, not to mention the other man's facial expression as he began to understand the hidden meaning behind the words.

His call was answered after a few moments by a deep male voice, the sound of rapidly rushing water prominent on the background. A waterfall, perhaps?

"Aaah, Mr. B. It's been a while, what's up?" the man spoke in his deep baritone, causing him to sound much older than the director knew him to be.

"I have a job for you but I can't explain the details over the phone. Come by my office next Monday and we'll talk more then," he answered, getting right to the point as always. The man on the other end of the phone let out an amused sound, deep satisfaction laced together with his normal deep voice as he spoke.

"I see… Yeah, I'll stop by but it won't be on Monday, I've got a gig then. How's Thursday sound?"

The director suppressed the urge to snap at the man's cheekiness; _he_ was the one arranging the meeting, not the other way around. Besides, Thursday was already less than a week away from the end of the month.

"You'll show up on Tuesday at ten pm sharp or you can forget about the job!" he yelled in response, banging his fist on his desk in annoyance. Out of all the things he went through to keep his business rolling, dealing with this man had to be the most insufferable one.

"Yeah yeah, no need to yell at me, sheesh… Don't pop any major arteries, I'll be there," the man replied slowly and as if knowing there was nothing more to discuss, promptly hang up, much to the director's irritation.

"_Well, at least he's coming, greedy as he is,_" he thought as he closed his phone and set it on his desk, a small sneer forming on his face. "_Greedy and careless._"

He could feel his stress begin to subside at the knowledge of his success in handling the difficult situation, and he let himself smirk in satisfaction. He had more than enough time to organize things before their meeting on Tuesday and after that he'd have one less thing to worry about.

He sighed contently, spinning his chair around to observe the crescent moon in the night sky over Lilycove City. Everything was going according to plan. Now if he could only have that glass of brandy…


	3. Chapter 1 Urges

**A/N:** Well, the first chapter is finally here! Yeah, I can't believe it either :'D Anyway, fun fact about this chapter; I first started writing it on Christmas Eve, after a few glasses of wine that is. Lets just say I've never questioned my holiday spirit more than I did on the following day, eh-heh ^^' Still, I'm glad I continued this idea of mine, and I'm overwhelmingly happy and grateful for all of the support and positive feedback you guys have given me so far!

I'd also like to point out that OC submission is now closed. I'm sorry to say not all of the submitted characters were picked for the story, simply because there were so many good ones to choose from, and only a few roles.

Special thanks to my lovely betas Miss Tigger and zombicidal-maniac for their awesome work! :) I hope you all enjoy the chapter, tell me what you think!

**chapter rating:** M  
><strong>warnings: <strong>explicit violence, death, language

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><p>Chapter 1: Urges<p>

Somewhere between Fortree and Lilycove City, a lone man with longish, slightly matted, dirty blond hair and dark brown eyes leaned against an old oak tree just on the edge of a forest. His eyes were focused on a small town hardly a few hundred meters away from the tree line. A field of tall grass and flowers flourished between the town and forest, setting an almost tranquil atmosphere to the scarcely populated town.

The man was dressed in a dark maroon army sweater, heavy dark grey cargo pants, huge black combat boots, and an olive green loose-fitting coat. Half a dozen red and white Poké Balls were firmly secured to his black leather belt, which was also keeping his heavy pants in place. The man's most noticeable facial feature had to be his slightly crooked nose, which looked like it had been broken on more than one occasion. His chin and cheeks were covered in light stubble, and he had two golden ring piercings on his left ear.

The man's dark eyes scanned the couple dozen houses in the distance. His assessment of the petty town was the same as his assumption when he'd first heard of it less than a week earlier; tiny, isolated, and quiet.

Utterly defenseless and ignorant of what was about to happen.

He'd been keeping an eye on the town for a few hours and had been bored out of his mind watching the inhabitants perform their daily chores and activities. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that nothing interesting would ever happen by itself within the town borders, and it made his job that much more tiring. He'd confirmed earlier sightings of Pokémon, mostly being miltank or machop, though these were obviously trained for housework and a domesticated lifestyle, not for battle. He felt a little disappointed. He'd at least expected that he'd get a decent battle out of this. He huffed in irritation, feeling his mood swing from bored to beyond impatient.

"Those idiots," he muttered under his breath as he turned his gaze towards the darkening sky, the sun having set about half an hour ago. He would have to wait another hour before he could even start the actual job. As the seconds ticked on, he was finding it harder to stick to his carefully planned scheme, feeling the urge to just give in to the temptation and defy given instructions. Patience wasn't his best feature, but, then again, he could think of ones that were far worse.

He took in a lungful of air and let his eyes wander, trying to distract his mind in an attempt to make time go faster. His eyes spotted the only source of light in the otherwise dark night sky, a sliver of the crescent moon shining faintly from behind a thin layer of clouds. He was confident there'd be a new moon tomorrow.

He had to admit that the conditions were rather good for a stake out, mainly because the chance of anyone seeing him with this little light was close to none. It would've been nice, though, if the job hadn't been during the last weeks of September.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants, cursing under his breath that he'd forgotten to take gloves with him that night. Hoenn was a relatively warm region, but the temperature dropped significantly during the night, especially at this time of the year. He could only thank his limited, almost non-existing luck that it wasn't raining, contrary to usual.

As his eyes studied the faintly shining crescent moon, he suddenly remembered the long-awaited Pokémon match between the region Champion and a hotshot trainer from abroad. The media had dubbed it 'the match of the century' due to the trainer's short work of the Elite Four, and it was probably being broadcasted all across Hoenn at this very moment. He had no doubt that most of the town's inhabitants would be watching it.

The ever-growing feeling of irritation began nagging at his mind; it wasn't often that such a match was televised and, having placed bets on the outcome, he couldn't stand not knowing what the score was. He was pretty confident that the Champion could hold his own against his challenger, but it would've been nice to actually follow the match just to be sure. Knowing that he was missing it because he was too busy twiddling his thumbs in the dark, made it almost unbearably frustrating. His misfortune always seemed to increase whenever he couldn't follow the score, much like when betting on Kanto's rapidash races.

He let out a frustrated sigh. Out of all nights his employer could have chosen, he just had to pick the night of the match, didn't he? And what was the point of it airing on a Monday anyway? Damn it all!

The slightest rush of cold air made him shiver under his regular clothing and he brought his hands out of his trouser pockets, beginning to rub his upper arms vigorously in a failing attempt to warm himself up.

He instinctively brought his hand into his trousers' back right pocket and grabbed hold of a tobacco pack, opening the lid and breathing in the smell of tobacco. His system not only craved the nicotine he'd been neglecting to provide it during the past few hours, but he mainly wanted to warm up his tensing fingers. All this waiting was beginning to act on his nerves as well, and the lack of smoking wasn't helping the situation.

He stared at the few remaining cigarettes, mentally debating whether to light up or not. He'd received instructions not to draw attention, and as much as he hated admitting it, smoking was too risky in the current situation. Muttering curses, he swiftly closed the pack and shoved it back into his pocket. Not only was he missing the 'match of the century', but suffering from the cold and lack of nicotine as well. Why did he even take this job?

The rhetorical question was quickly answered in his mind; money. It was always about the money, and as long as the price was right, he'd do pretty much anything his clients wanted. Well, that and for his own enjoyment. He'd gained a reasonably good reputation over the years in his line of work and was rather popular as far as nastier jobs were concerned. It was incredible what lengths people went to when they wanted something done, whether it be delivering a warning, assault, or even going as far as murder. He really wasn't that bothered by what he had to do as long as it paid the bills.

There was the faintest sound of footfalls advancing towards him from within the forest and he immediately focused his gaze towards the sound. His hand impulsively snapped to his belt, reaching for a red and white ball. A moment later, though, he relaxed when he saw it was just a mightyena. The dark type Pokémon growled once and bared its teeth, clearly not liking the man's initial reaction to its approach. The Pokémon quietly made its way to the man's side and nudged his hand impatiently, raising its head in the process, revealing a piece of rolled up paper tied around its neck.

The man untied the knot from around the Pokémon's neck and gave it a quick pat on the head, his fingers absently stroking the mightyena's shaggy black fur as he proceeded to unroll the piece of paper. His eyes took in the contents of the message that could only just be seen in the dim lighting of the crescent moon.

"_Deimos, change of plans; we are to strike whenever ready. Signal me when you decide to attack. Give Mightyena a good petting for me, otherwise he'll rip your legs off."_

A sinister smile crept onto Deimos' face as his eyes kept reading the sentences written in small, neat handwriting.

"Finally," he breathed out, his voice ringing with anticipation as he shoved the piece of paper into one of his pockets. His hand came up to rest on his belt, ready to grab one of the many Poke Balls he had with him. He could feel his heartbeat start to race, an almost feral smile forming onto his face.

He thought about the situation for a minute, calming himself before doing anything else. Everything had to be carefully planned and executed, though he really didn't feel like the town would cause them any difficulties. He already knew exactly what he would do and the only thing left was to give the signal. No doubt, this would be a blast…literally.

His fingers curled around one of the Poke Balls and he yanked it off his belt, casually throwing it in the air, letting loose a large intimidating blue Pokémon with a reptilian-like appearance, red head and medium-sized wings. The Pokémon roared out its name once before focusing on its trainer, standing on its hind legs and looking ready for anything. The mightyena moved a few steps away from the spiky, hunchbacked creature, keeping a close eye on the large dragon type that had begun to emit a ferocious aura.

Deimos once again returned his gaze to the town and sneered as he raised his hand to point in its direction.

"Druddigon," he called out, making sure the dragon type was listening before giving his order, "Draco Meteor."

The druddigon let out a gruesome roar before building up the attack in its stomach and mouth. Leaning its massive, red head backwards, it opened its mouth and fired a massive ball of orange energy up into the sky, directly above the town. The ball of energy left a streak of the same color behind it, sounding almost like a firework as it made its way higher into the sky.

Deimos could see more lights being turned on within the dark houses of the town and people gathered around windows to see what was causing the sudden lightshow. Some exited the safety of their homes, clearly not knowing what dangers the firework-like energy ball held until it was too late.

All of the sudden, the large orange 'firework' exploded, multiplying into dozens of smaller ones in the process. Deimos heard marveled gasps and a few cheers at the lightshow and waited impatiently for the chaos as the smaller balls of energy rained down like fire. He heard a terrified scream as someone realized what the 'firework' actually was and he watched with satisfaction as the Draco Meteor hit several houses on the edge of the town, successfully setting fire to anything it touched.

In the midst of the cries and screams, Deimos started to make his way to the now burning town, stomping down a path in the field of tall grass and flowers with his druddigon following close behind. The mightyena had sprinted towards the town the second his druddigon had fired the attack, letting loose a loud howl in the process. Deimos saw that it and a dozen more of its kind were now setting a perimeter around the town, making sure no one could escape.

Out of the corner of his eye, Deimos saw a flash of red somewhere within the dense forest, almost immediately followed by a loud, slightly metallic sounding bird cry. In no time at all, he could make out the form of a tall, silver-grey bird with a long neck and red feathers on its wings, flying at an abnormally low altitude towards the town. Its trainer, a longhaired girl, was sitting on its back, well accustomed to travelling on the steel type's back. The skarmory was in his line of vision in an instant, and it slowed down to an almost walking pace, lazily flapping its wings to stay above ground level just a few dozen feet to his left.

The girl on the steel type's back was dressed in clothes similar to Deimos'; dark grey cargo pants, a forest green woolen sweater, a mid-length, sand colored coat and black boots. A washed-out, auburn colored scarf hung loosely around her neck, the color contrasting sharply with her now wind-tossed hair.

A pair of dark blue eyes met his dark brown ones, sending a clear message of the girl's irritation and anxiousness. A wicked smirk formed on her face as she took a moment to take a better look at him.

"Looks like you're still in one piece," she remarked casually, referring to her earlier message, all the while roughly pushing back her messy hair from her face. "Well, since Mr. Client gave us the green light let's get this show on the road! I'm in the mood for some destruction." she exclaimed with a quick laugh. Her hand moved to grab three Poké Balls from the contents of her coat pocket and enlarged them to full size. She stared at the three capsules for a second, her face going oddly impassive as she raised her gaze to the burning town.

Deimos watched the flames dance in her eyes as she threw the Poké Balls in the air and called out her equally anxious Pokémon, her 'Trio of Destruction' as she liked to refer to them. The Pokémon materialized quickly, revealing a humongous black hippo-like creature with an even darker colored back and muzzle with red eyes, a big, blue-green colored bell with two arms and a Totem Pole design as it's face, and lastly, a black and blue, full-grown lion with three yellow rings on the backs of its front legs, red eyes and a yellow star-shaped tip on its tail. All three called out their names and waited impatiently for commands.

As her impassiveness continued, Deimos found himself getting annoyed with her behavior, wondering why in the hell she wasn't doing anything. Well, nothing a little provoking couldn't fix.

"Well come on then, you useless girl! I'm not gonna stand here all night and grow old while you try to connect those two brain cells of yours! Just fucking attack already, Parisia, and worry about your nails later!" he yelled in his deep baritone, smirking in satisfaction when he saw her flinch. She'd be utterly pissed at him now.

She turned her head to face Deimos, who had taken this time to finally light up his much-needed cigarette. The tiniest sneer formed onto her face as she gave him a maddened look, mixed with anger and disbelief.

"…Useless? I'll show you who's fucking useless, Deimos, that town there!" she spat and pointed at the burning buildings, her eyes now a shade darker than before. "Let's make them suffer. Let's slaughter." Her last words came out in whispers, spoken as if they were the most beautiful words in the world, the look in her eyes simply insane. "And if you ever call me that hideous name again I'll set my pack of mightyena on you, got that?"

Deimos grinned viciously. "By all means," he replied, and before he knew it, she was already attacking the defenseless town, her skarmory providing her with a bird's eye view of the havoc her luxray's Discharge, hippowdon's Take Down and bronzong's Extrasensory were causing.

Deimos took a long whiff of his tobacco and cast a glance towards his druddigon, the dragon type looking like it simply itched to participate in the destruction. The look in the dragon type's eerie yellow eyes was simply ruthless as their gazes met, and after a few seconds, Deimos smirked, shrugging his shoulders at the same time.

"Do what you want, just don't use Draco Meteor again, you're Special Attack's already down to begin with. And try avoid hitting our comrades, she's already pissed at me and would probably skin you alive if you hit her Pokémon," he told the Cave Pokémon firmly and the Pokémon nodded swiftly before letting out a blood-chilling roar as it spread its wings and raised itself into the air, flying towards the chaos to cause even more havoc.

Deimos continued his way by foot, feeling in no hurry to reach the burning town. He and his partner both loved chaos, but instead of mainly causing it like she did, Deimos preferred to simply watch the beauty of it happen right before his eyes. His dark eyes took in the burning buildings and frantic people trapped inside them. His ears were filled with their terrified screams and wailing as they ran for their lives. The smell of smoke and scorching buildings wafted in the air… He couldn't even begin to describe the amount of ecstasy it made him feel.

Deimos smirked to himself; no wonder they were so good at what they did, this… mercenary business, for lack of a better term. It seemed like they only lived to destroy, much like their Pokémon, though that trait was conditioned into all of them except him. He remembered harvesting a particularly ruthless and nasty personality from a very young age and it had eventually caused him to lose his trainer's permit. Not that it stopped him from training or battling, of course. The girl, though, was another story. She'd appeared in the picture only a couple of years ago, and already he'd corrupted her into his way of life. He loved it.

Deimos ran a hand through his dirty blond hair and watched as his druddigon chased after a small group of people. Its claws grew longer as it began using Slash, slicing through most of his targets like a knife through butter, killing them instantly. The dragon type roared loudly as it realized it had missed a young boy and girl. The two screamed and cried as the Cave Pokémon turned around and lunged at them. Deimos watched rather spellbound as the two were practically snapped in half from his druddigon's crunch attack. Afterwards, it dropped them unceremoniously to the ground and flew after the next unfortunate soul it could spot, totally unfazed by what it had just done.

His Pokémon was really letting loose tonight, wasn't it?

"_Guess it's better this way. Now that he's let off some steam, he'll probably let me ride him and make the flight to that geezer's place more pleasant._" Deimos thought as he watched the destruction around him, feeling more impressed than terrified of what his Pokémon could do when given the chance.

Deimos took one last puff from his cigarette before letting it fall to the blood and charcoal smeared ground, not seeing any reason to stomp on it when the town was already on fire. Although he really did enjoy the scene in front of him, he was quickly growing tired of it, especially after almost all the cries had stopped. He assumed most of the town's inhabitants were already dead, or, at the very least, fatally injured. His assumption was confirmed upon seeing a couple of the mightyena feasting on deceased miltank and other livestock, indicating there wasn't anything alive to keep inside the town anymore.

A moment or so later, his partner landed next to him, her eyes still burning with ecstasy, but otherwise appearing more in her senses than when they had last parted.

"I did a quick aerial check, looks like no one's going anywhere," she informed him, hinting that anyone still alive wasn't in any shape to escape the rapidly spreading fires or pack of hungry mightyena.

Deimos nodded. "Good. That slime ball, Russells, will have to pay us the full price now," he replied before placing two fingers in his mouth and whistling one long, loud note to call for his rampaging druddigon. "Mind handling the rest while I go gather the money? Don't want that spineless swine going back on his word," he went on. After receiving a quick nod from his partner, he climbed on the back of his awaiting dragon type, the Pokémon's claws and teeth still dripping with blood.

"Once you're done, return to base. I'll be there as soon as I have the money," he told her. She nodded impatiently once again, a look of irritation plastered on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry yourself Deimos, I'm not fucking retarded. You can leave things to me!" the girl replied. The sight of her heavily painted blue eyes on that flawless, soot smeared face made him almost want to rethink what they'd just decided. However, thinking of nothing sensible to say, he ended up merely nodding back and giving her an amused look, his eyes lingering on hers for a second too long.

God she could be gorgeous! Then again, at times she really pissed him off...

"_Women_," he mentally snorted as he rolled his eyes. He could never even begin to understand them. He remembered the little speech he'd pulled on her not more than half an hour ago and almost felt like smacking himself in the face. She wouldn't let it go unless he got her something. Damn it.

With that, he was off, leaving the town to the mercy of his partner. He had no doubt she would stay there long through the night to bask in the destruction she'd caused and to confirm that absolutely no one would live to see the sun rise on the following morning. If there was one thing she took seriously, it was her job, and she always aimed to please the people most important to her (or whoever was willing to pay her for her services). It was because of that trait that he trusted her almost as much as she trusted him, which - if you ignored all the bitching she did and the bad-mouthing that he gave her in return – was quite a lot.

He'd always wondered how she'd come to trust him so much when, at first, she hated his very existence. The fact that she hadn't left his side for the last four years or so must've meant she liked him…to some extent, anyways. And the fact that he hadn't killed her yet meant that he'd grown to like her as well.

The smallest grin began to form on his face as he once again thought about her face and vivid bluish eyes.

He was a hard man to please for an extended period of time, but there was something about his partner that he was very fixed upon and, oddly, never truly grew tired of. He wondered whether the fact he'd 'created' her had something to do with that…

Not only was the girl hard working but also fairly attractive and definitely not an idiot, which, due to the fact that they worked together, were traits that he found necessary in order for her to be in his presence nearly 24/7.

And that's exactly how he wanted it to continue. He wanted her by his side for the rest of his life.

He'd long ago come in terms with his emotions, determining whatever he felt for her was far from love. Such a petty emotion as love could never describe the pain and anger and lose and absolute need he felt whenever she wasn't near him or when he didn't know where and what she was doing.

No, this feeling could never be classified as something as simple as love. It was something much more powerful, something unhealthy.

As his druddigon carried him closer to his destination, he suddenly felt a rush of overwhelmingly tiredness and struggled to stay awake for the rest of the hour-long flight to their client's, a Mr. Russells' estate just outside Lilycove City. He roughly pinched the bridge of his nose to try and pry his tiredness away. He hadn't even realized how worn-out he'd been while focused on his job, and now that he'd had a moment to relax it was evident to him that he desperately needed sleep. But sleep could and _would_ wait, for the only thing he needed now was payment for their more than thorough services, and he'd be damned if that old geezer could wiggle his way out of it just because he was too tired to go collect it before midnight!

With his mind firmly focused on the mountain of money awaiting him, he once again neglected the urge to close his eyes, knowing he'd get to sleep once re-united with his partner at their base. Hell, if he needed to, he could sleep until next afternoon!

A tired sigh escaped his lips. He had to admit to himself that although sometimes sleep deprived, life really was sweet. And if tomorrow's late-night client meeting went according to plan, it'd just get that much sweeter.

Sneering in self-satisfaction, his dark brown eyes once again set on the dimly shining crescent moon, the faint ray of light it emitted ironically reminding him of the last ray of hope for humanity. He snickered.

"_And tomorrow night there'll be a new moon, how seriocomic._"


	4. Chapter 2 Light

**A/N: **Here you have it; the next chapter of TSOT. Thanks for all of the hits and reviews so far! They really encourage you on, especially during times when you just want to give up and bang your head against a wall... Seriously, I do too much research for this story ^^'

Once again, a huge thank you to my wonderful betas! Hope you all like the chapter :)

**chapter rating:** K+  
><strong>warnings: <strong>mild swearing

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Light<p>

The smell of detergent was heavy in the air as she laid on something soft, her eyes closed, breathing in almost labored breaths. The sharpness of the cleaning solution made her airways burn in a most unpleasant way, and she briefly wondered why everything seemed to smell like that as she slowly shifted in the softness of what she assumed was her bed, trying to find anything she could block the nasty smell with. She tried to hang on to the last moment of sleep, feeling too tired to wake up yet, but the smell was too much and it overpowered her will to keep her eyes closed any longer.

She instinctively mumbled something under her breath, oddly enough not even knowing herself what she'd just said, before slowly cracking her heavy, tired eyelids open. She immediately regretted doing so, for the brightness of the room made her eyes water with irritation and she quickly shut them once more.

Damnit why was it so bright? Had she forgotten to close the curtains or something? What time was it anyway?

She tried to bring her right arm up to her eyes and rub the stinging sensation off, but noticed her arm wouldn't reach her face no matter how she tried. She felt something pull and prickle on the bend of her elbow and it made her whole arm ach. Wincing, she stopped trying to move the arm and gently let it fall back to her side, feeling something warm start to wrap around the bend of her elbow. The aching, though, had retreated slightly, to which she was relieved. Not wanting to risk paining herself more than she already had, she gently raised her left arm and tried to move it around a bit, and once realizing nothing held it back, she brought it slowly towards her face to rub her still stinging eyes.

After rubbing her eyes a few times with her upper arm she tried opening them once more to see just what was restricting the use of her right arm. After the painstakingly slow process of willing her eyes to open, she was once again greeted by the irritating brightness of the room. Still not fully used to the light, she squinted both her eyes and slowly shifted on the bed, rolling her head to her right side to look at her arm. What she discovered made her feel uneasy.

The bend of her elbow reminded her of a pincushion as she looked at the multiple needles sticking out of it. A few of the needles were attached to long narrow tubes that were connected somewhere beyond her field of vision and although she tried to turn her head to follow them her neck just wouldn't cooperate with her. Her eyes fell back onto the bend of her elbow and she watched in silence at the red liquid that was streaming down the side of her arm, creating crimson stains on the white covers she lay on.

Blood.

She didn't quite know how to react to the sight and it made her feel even more at unease. She tried to will her head to turn away but for some odd reason she just couldn't stop staring at her bloodied arm. She even found herself tugging on it just to see more of the scarlet substance pour out. A shiver ran through her body, though it went unknown to her what exactly caused it in the first place.

After what seemed like forever, she finally forced her gaze away from her arm and found herself staring at a stark white ceiling and the two rows of halogen lamps that hung from it. Her eyes were starting to hurt from the light but still she kept on staring straight into them anyway, her mind absently wondering how the lights seemed to keep growing larger by the minute.

Her ears registered a small clicking noise from somewhere around her and she slowly let her eyes wander around the rest of the stark white room, trying to find what had caused the sound. She heard a small gasp, as if surprised, and her eyes finally found the source of the sounds; a middle-aged woman. The woman's hand was resting on the doorknob of the room's door, still not fully closed, and she was carrying some sort of transparent bag with colorless liquid inside.

A moment of silence passed between them as they stared at one another. The woman blinked rapidly, as if snapping out of a deep thought, and was the first to speak.

"I see you're finally awake," she spoke in a calm, soft voice, her hazel brown eyes looking at her for a moment before yanking the door closed and starting to make her way towards the bed she laid on. The woman gave her a tender smile. "How are you feeling? Are you in any sort of pain?"

She stared at the woman for a moment, not quite making out her face, thanks to her lamp-starting a little moment ago. She thought about what the woman had asked her but before she could even consider answering anything the woman gasped loudly.

"Oh my dear girl, what've you done? Don't tell me you tried to remove those! Good grief, now you'll need another blood transfusion…" the woman pointed accusingly at her right arm and sighed tiredly. "Ugh, doc Harlow isn't going to be happy when he finds out about this…"

"_Blood transfusion? What's she talking about?_" she thought as she in turn looked at her bleeding arm.

She opened her mouth and attempted to ask what the woman meant, but she couldn't seem to make out a single word. She swallowed, her mouth feeling dry and raspy like sandpaper.

What was going on?

The woman seemed to notice her situation and had poured her a cup of some liquid during the time she was slowly starting to fall into a state of panic. The woman pushed her into a sitting position against the stark white wall and gave her the cup.

"Here, you must be thirsty. Don't worry, it's only water," she informed her and gave her a gentle but tired smile. "Take your time before you talk, and I'll tend to this hand of yours in the mean time."

With that, the woman pulled a chair to the right side of the bed and took her bloody arm for closer inspection.

She absently watched the woman in work, tentatively drinking from the cup, suddenly feeling very grateful for the water. It didn't take her long to drink it all, after which she felt somewhat better, deciding to stay quiet for a while longer before attempting to speak.

The woman cleaned her arm quickly and applied something on the wound. "There," she said and looked at her in the eyes. "That's all I can do with it since you're still on IVs, not to mention we'll have to do that transfusion sometime soon. Are you feeling any better?"

She stared into the woman's hazel eyes for a moment before nodding her head, the movement feeling slightly stiff. There was a long stretch of silence before she finally just couldn't take it anymore, starving for information on just what was happening to her. She opened her mouth and after a few failed attempts to voice out her thoughts, she managed to ask the question that had bothered her for the entire time she'd been awake.

"…What's going on?" she asked in a raspy voice, her left hand coming up to her throat, a little shocked of how her voice sounded like. It hadn't always been like that, had it?

The hazel-eyed woman gave her a slightly pitiful smile.

"My dear girl, you've been in an accident," the woman told her, placing a warm hand atop of her colder one. "Don't you remember?" she asked her calmly. It was apparent she was used to handling these sorts of things.

"An accident?" she repeated slowly and the woman nodded.

She tried to think back but couldn't remember anything about an accident. She shook her head slowly, confusion radiating from her being.

The woman sighed in disappointment, a glint of pity in her eyes as she watched the girl in front of her.

"So you don't remember… That's a shame, we were hoping you could tell us more about what happened to you…" she trailed off with a sad smile on her face.

The woman sat up from her chair and pulled it away from the bedside, after which she smoothed out the pale pink garment she was dressed in.

It finally accorded to her that the woman must've been a nurse, and that added with the horribly white room and scent of detergent could only mean one thing.

She swallowed hard upon her realization.

"Am I… hospitalized?" she mumbled in her unpleasant raspy voice. She felt thirsty all over again, though she couldn't say whether it was from all her talking or shock.

The woman looked at her for a moment before nodding once, a trained sympathetic smile plastered on her face.

"Yes, unfortunately you are dear. This is Cherrygrove Central Clinic, and you've been staying here with us for about a week now."

"A week, in Cherrygrove?" she was surprised but now that she thought about it she had been quite stiff, it must've been from all the resting. The name of the clinic wasn't familiar though. Where on earth was she?

The nurse simply nodded, luckily understanding her confusion and clarifying the situation.

"Yes, in Johto. A few trainers on their way to the next city brought you in. They claimed to have found you on route 30 and brought you back here because it was closer than Violet City."

Johto. That was the first thing that rang a bell in her mind. It was a region, wasn't it? Cherrygrove and Violet City had to be cities in Johto.

She felt her panic subside a bit as she finally began to remember something. She breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Johto…" she muttered, deep in thought, only vaguely aware of the nurse who had begun to change her nearly empty IV bag into the one she had brought with her.

What was she doing in Johto? Did she live here? Was she a traveling trainer like the ones whom had found her? And if so, where was she traveling? Did her family know what had happened? …Had she any family?

More and more questions buffeted her shocked mind as she desperately tried to remember anything to figure out what was going on. She suddenly felt very tired and her head began to spin as her mind continued to bombard her with questions. A growing sense of panic consumed her as she realized in horror that she couldn't remember what she was doing here or how she'd gotten there in the first place.

The nurse seemed to notice something was off as she turned her attention away from the IV bag and leaned in closer to her.

"What's wrong, you suddenly became very pale…" she inquired and stepped next to her bed. "You better lay down for a while, the doctor should be here in the next ten minutes so you'll have some time to rest if you're not feeling well," she continued as she gently set her on her back.

Lying down didn't help though, as she started feeling as though she was being suffocated. She desperately took in gasps of air but her efforts seemed to be no use as she started to hyperventilate, much to the nurse's shock. She couldn't make out what the woman was saying to her, the only sounds she heard being the rapid beeping of some machine and her own desperate gasps for air. Her heart felt like it was trying to force itself out of her chest as she lay on the white covers, shuddering violently every few seconds.

This was all happening too fast and to make matters even worse, she couldn't remember a thing! She knew something was very wrong and she just wanted to get away from the stark white room around her, to just run away and forget anything ever happened to her and continue with her life.

Her body began to feel heavy as darkness started to consume her, her mind shutting down and letting her fall into a blissful numbness. She fainted.

~.~.~.

_She couldn't make out anything in the darkness around her, but she had the distinct feeling she was waiting for something, someone…_

_The smell of mild tobacco lingered in the air around her and for some reason it comforted her in the otherwise blacked surroundings, which had only a moment ago made her feel somewhat anxious. She couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything. She could only smell. She wondered how that was possible._

_She vaguely noticed that she was sitting, her hands loosely wrapped around her knees as she kept on waiting for anything to happen. Nothing ever did._

_After what seemed like forever she was still waiting, her body tense with anticipation, as if readying itself even though she had no idea what she was waiting for. She was starting to get a bit irritated and angry at the unknown thing or person she seemed to be waiting for._

_Why wasn't anything happening?_

_Suddenly there was a flash of light in the otherwise endless field of darkness, the bright rays instantly catching her attention. At first she was surprised and was more than content in just viewing it from afar, wondering what it could be. She could tell this wasn't normal and for some odd reason it both scared and intrigued her. She was almost certain this was what she had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity, and before she could even register what was happening, she was already on her feet, running towards the glimmering light ahead._

_She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she got closer and closer to the source of the light, her feelings all over the place as she experienced a range of different emotions. She was excited, scared, curious, distrusting… It made no sense._

_Suddenly, just before she reached the light, she came to a halt, not daring to take another step towards the unknown flashing light only a few dozen meters away. The light flashed and glimmered in front of her almost invitingly, yet she found herself paralyzed on spot. _

_This didn't feel right to her, like there was something wrong with the whole situation. It was just too different from the darkness she had grown used to._

_She liked the darkness; it was vast and comforting like a huge blanket, and she felt uneasy leaving the safety of it. The darkness was safe and it didn't make her feel any of these strange, mixed up emotions, on the contrary, it made her feel apathetically numb._

_Then another thought crossed her mind, something that she had failed to notice until now. _

_She could feel again, both psychically and emotionally. It was an odd feeling. A frightening feeling._

_She hadn't felt anything while in the security of darkness, as if deprived of emotion. As if she were as numb as the darkness._

_She really hadn't thought about the matter before, but the realization kicked in almost immediately. _

_She didn't like feeling numb._

_Still paralyzed in place, she stared hesitantly at the unrecognizable glowing source of light, feeling an odd sensation of warmth radiating from within it, enjoying the feel of it against her skin. The thought terrified her._

_Why should she want these feelings now after spending so long in numbing darkness? Hadn't she gotten along just fine up until now, wasn't she content having darkness as her blanket? And what about the smell of tobacco?_

_Why was this happening to her?_

_She was confused, scared even. She didn't know what to do._

_She just stood there, midway between blinding brightness and smothering darkness; experiencing things she feared - but at the same time craved._

"_I don't know what to do."_

_It was the first time she had heard her voice - no - heard anything while in the darkness. She desperately felt the need to hear something, anything And as if a record stuck on replay, she repeated her earlier words for what seemed like hours. Her voice was but a whisper, as if she were scared to raise it any louder._

_The words began to echo around her in a most unusual manner, as they did not repeat what she'd just stated. She instantly shut up and merely listened._

"_Such an odd thing to say," a voice echoed around her, sounding almost metallic. "It's the wrong answer. You lie."_

"_W-what…?" she whispered in disbelief. "But I… I'm not lying, I really don't know what to do."_

"_Ignorant human. You refuse to acknowledge what you already know and thus you keep answering wrong."_

"_How can you know that? You're not me!" she shouted back, gasping at the loudness of her own voice._

"_I know what you know and I feel what you feel, it's as simple as that," the voice replied in a matter-of-factly tone._

"_How can that be? That just doesn't make any sense!"_

"_There are many things in this world that don't make sense, yet they still exist. We cannot control and understand everything, only accept the things that come by."_

_A moment of silence passed as she took in what the voice had said, still feeling very confused about their weird conversation. Everything had been so much easier while in the cover of darkness. She let out an un-amused huff and looked warily at the source of light in front of her._

"_You keep stating you know what I have to do. Tell me. What is it, what should I do?"_

"_You really are ignorant. What use would it be answering a question you already have the answer for?" she heard the voice reply. "Wrong questions lead to wrong answers. Wrong answers lead to right questions. Right questions lead to right answers. That is all you need to know."_

_She kept on staring at the light in front of her, trying to understand the bizarre explanation she'd been given._

"_So, you mean I've been asking the wrong question."_

"_Correct. Rights questions answer wrong questions."_

"_And now you're claiming right answers solve wrong questions? You're not making any sense!" she shouted in exasperation._

_No answer._

"_Can you at least give me the right question?" she sighed tiredly after a moment of cooling down. She wasn't used to this much emotion, and it was beginning to take its tow on her._

"_Answer this; what is it you want?" the voice asked, leaving her somewhat confused._

"_What I want…? But how'll that answer anything?"_

"_You already know; right questions answer wrong questions."_

_She thought about this for a minute. If right questions lead to right answers, and right question answered wrong questions, then right answers really did solve wrong questions. That meant all she had to do was what she wanted._

_Just what _did_ she want?_

_She could once again smell tobacco around her and she instantly felt calmer, though she hardly knew what for. It was as if she connected a certain… something or someone with the scent, something familiar. Her head seemed to grow clearer with every lungful of smoke she took. It made her feel numb._

_Something had begun to twist itself around her upper body, and her breath hitched as she saw a dark shadow wrapped around her shoulders and waist._

"_What you want is me," the shadow hissed in an almost reptilian-like voice and began to tug her backwards, slowly dragging her away from the light._

_For a moment she couldn't do anything as she stared paralyzed at the shadows, vaguely sensing the warmth of the light growing more distant. _

_What was going on? What on earth was this thing?_

_All she knew was that this wasn't what she wanted. Or maybe it was. Hell, she didn't know! She needed more time._

_She began struggling in the shadow's clasp, trying desperately to free herself from it._

"_No! That's not what I want! I mean, I don't know what I want! Let me go, let me go!" she screamed but her pleas were ignored as the shadow pulled her farther away into the darkness. She thrashed in protest and watched in silent horror as the light ahead of her began to flicker away._

"_No! Don't leave me! Wait! Please wait! I need more time!" she cried out but it seemed neither the shadow or light would listen to her._

"_More time? Ignorant human, time is all you have," both of the voices suddenly stated in unison as she finally ran out of strength to fight back the shadow, letting it drag her farther into the darkness without much effort._

_Her spirit seemed to get smothered with every tug and she soon realized she didn't care what she wanted anymore._

"_It'd just be useless…" she whispered unconsciously, her words making the light up ahead flash violently one more time until it began to grow weaker._

_Just like it had appeared, the light suddenly died out, leaving only darkness behind. The last thing she registered was the feeling of loss and emptiness._

_~.~.~._

When she opened her eyes she was once again greeted with blinding brightness that caused her eyes to water and sting. She breathed out groggily and shifted in her cool, thin sheets.

"Finally awake, I see," an unknown male voice spoke from somewhere around her and she slowly opened her eyes to see just who it was.

Rolling her head from side to side, she finally spotted the man on the right side of her bed, browsing through a set of papers attached to a brown clipboard. He looked quite young, probably no more than thirty years old and had short blond hair, brown eyes and a fairly handsome face. He was wearing a long white lab coat atop a neutral colored, beige dress shirt and a pair of neat black pants. The pockets of his coat were bulging with various medical instruments and pens, a stethoscope hanging somewhat ominously around his neck.

A doctor. Perhaps he was the one the nurse had mentioned before. What was his name again?

He turned his gaze back to her and gave her a look that seemed like a mixture of boredom and annoyance, an ugly look in contrast with his face.

"How're you feeling? Not too great, I'd imagine," he asked rather uninterestedly and continued to flip through a few more pages on the chart before he set it down on a small nightstand beside her bed. "One of the nurses told me you fainted from blood loss not even ten minutes after coming to the first time. Nearly pulled out all of your needles as well, I'm rather shocked to tell you the truth," he continued in a monotonous voice, not even bothering to hide his sarcasm.

"_What's this guy's problem?_" she thought in slight irritation as she stared at him rather dumbfounded.

"I… I'm fine, just peachy," she replied similarly, frowning when she noticed her voice was just as raspy as before. "Can I have something to drink? My throat feels horrible…"

"Yeah sure thing. Just sit back and relax as good ol' Dr. Harlow here pours you a cup of the cleanest water you'll come across for miles," he replied, voice heavy with bitter sarcasm as he grabbed a cup from the nightstand and reached for a small pitcher just next to it. "Well, now that we've wasted all of this month's anesthetics to keep you asleep I'll probably have to prescribe something for your pain. Your patient file completely neglects to mention whether you're allergic to anything. I would've put you on something strong long ago but the senior physician thought it was 'too risky'," he went on, poorly imitating an older man. "So, remember being allergic to any common anodynes?" Dr. Harlow, as he so subtly introduced himself as, inquired as he poured her a cup of water.

"…Not that I know of," she replied warily and gratefully took the cup when he offered it to her.

What was it again that the nurse had worried about, Dr. Harlow not being happy? What an understatement, the man didn't really seem to care much for his patient. Did he even know what manners were?

"_Maybe he's just having a bad day,_" she thought as she took a sip from her cup of water.

"Hmm, I see," the young doctor replied as he scribbled something into a piece of paper he'd taken from her patient file. He turned his attention back to her when he'd clipped the lone piece of paper back onto the board. "Well, it's not like anyone can blame me if you suddenly have an allergic reaction and die... That in mind, if you're feeling too pained just say my name and I'll prescribe you something that'll paralyze even your heart," he told her casually, though the look in his eyes strongly led her to believe he wasn't kidding. "Should take the pain away, wouldn't you agree?"

She felt the urge to swallow. Just what kind of doctor was this guy? And how on earth was he still employed? Either he actually would do all the things he said or this was a case of some really sick, twisted humor. By the look of things, she was beginning to side with her first guess.

"Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions but before I answer anything I'll need to check that your wounds are healing according to plan, especially after your earlier incident," he spoke very slowly to her and wrote something on the clipboard, surprisingly resuming a more professional state of mind.

She absently nodded in reply, her thoughts still a little fuzzy, before she realized what he'd said.

Wounds? What wounds? What healing?

The doctor made his way to the other side of her bed and tentatively took hold of her left arm, not bothering to give her even a glance as he focused on it. Her eyes followed his to see almost half of her arm wrapped in white wrappings, almost as if they'd tried to mummify her but ran out of supplies. The young doctor skillfully unwrapped the bindings and examined her arm, the sight shocking her. Her arm was covered in small but deep looking puncture wounds, now beginning to close up. The surrounding skin hade an ugly yellowish tint to it, the bruising skin indicating the wound was days old.

She heard the doctor start to hum a tune she didn't recognize as he turned her wrist around, revealing similar wounds on the other side of her arm. The small red wounds formed a half circle that started from her wrist and ended just midway of her forearm.

What on earth had caused that and how hadn't she noticed the bandaging earlier?

She frowned. It looked like her arm had been bitten by something very big.

The doctor noticed her confusion as he looked up to see how she was taking things, her troubled greyish blue eyes staring at her injured arm. He stopped his humming as he resumed to his work, deciding to start up a conversation with her to prevent her from going into shock like she'd done only an hour earlier.

"_It'd just mean more work. Stupid nurses, can't do anything right these days,_" he thought as he eyed the small wounds.

"It seems you were bitten by some large Pokémon, though I'm sorry to say we haven't found out what species exactly. Nothing from this region at least. What I can tell you is that you were very lucky to be brought in when you were; the wounds were starting to get infected and the bacteria was quite aggressive. We were able to kill off most of the bacteria and clean your wounds but we still have to monitor the situation. Blood poisoning isn't exactly a thing kids should be dying from. You might also have some nerve and muscle damage, to what extent we don't know yet," he told her as he inspected the wounds. "Flex your fingers for me."

Well, he sure wasn't going to sugarcoat anything.

She slowly started to move her fingers around, the slender digits responding to what she was told to do, though quite stiffly. She watched the doctor nod his head once.

"Good, that's enough. Now try rolling your wrist around but by no means force it if it doesn't work normally. You've been unconscious for a long time and your joints are stiff from the lack of use," the doctor explained.

She made to roll her wrist around but not even half way into the circle a jolt of pain stabbed her arm and she winced loudly, letting her arm fall limb into the doctor's waiting hands. He took a closer look of her wrist.

"Hmm, as I expected. No serious nerve damage but there's obviously some muscle loss. Probably eaten by the bacteria… Nothing a little physiotherapy can't fix, though."

Muscle loss? It felt like her wrist had been crushed into tiny pieces!

"And how long's that going to take?" she found herself asking, pleased to hear her voice wasn't nearly as raspy as before. "The healing I mean."

The doctor gave her a quick glance before setting her arm back down beside her and moving to the end of her bed. "I'd say you'll be able to use your arm somewhat normally by the time you get released," he replied. "Assuming you aren't left-handed that is," he mumbled quickly after.

"And when's that? Tomorrow?" she asked hopefully, choosing to neglect his last comment.

She didn't know why but she had the instinctive feeling she wasn't suppose to be lying in a hospital. She remembered her earlier thoughts about escape, and the thought of her staying here made her strangely uneasy. She really didn't like hospitals, not one bit.

The doctor gave her an incredulous look. "Tomorrow? Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but even though you've been lucky so far, I doubt you'd get that lucky," he responded, and without another word he reached for her covers and flicked them aside, revealing her legs.

Her _plastered_ legs. Wrapped in bright pink bandaging.

She stared at the sight before her in shock. What was this? Were her legs broken? Her arm aside, how had she managed to not notice the state of her legs?

In spite of all the questions she could think about, there was only one she managed to voice out.

"…Why is it pink?" she asked, her voice sounding close to horrified.

The young doctor shook his head. "Yeah, sure, completely disregard what happened to you and concentrate on pointless details…" he sighed in disbelief. "Honestly kid, where's your sense of prioritization? Are you seriously worried about what color your casts are when you might not walk for weeks?"

"Wh- what?" she managed to breath out as she kept on gaping in shock.

The doctor rolled his eyes as he moved to the right side of her bed and started to examine her legs.

"Sure, _now_ she worries," he mused before looking back at her, the expression on his face turning to a more professional one as he started explaining the situation to her.

"Now listen closely kid; you haven't broken anything but you do have multiple hairline fractures on both of your ankles. You can't put any weight on them for at least another week, and they won't heal completely until another month after. Time is the only cure for your injuries, so you better get used to resting."

She nodded slowly, letting out a breath of air she'd been unconsciously holding in. She felt relieved to hear her legs weren't broken but the thought of having to stay here made her very displeased.

"How long before I can walk again? And when can I leave? I've got… things to do, places to be."

The blond haired man looked at her for a moment as if debating to himself whether to be honest or not, though what she could tell he'd been nothing but frank with her throughout their little chat. Finally, he spoke.

"Like I said, fractures take time to heal. If you want to be able to use your legs normally you simply can't put weight on them during the first few weeks after the injury, let alone walk or run. Usually I wouldn't even suggest walking before a month of rest but since you're decades younger than most of my patients you can probably consider it next week. Your body is young and has the ability to heal faster, but don't misunderstand me; even it needs time to do so."

She let the information sink in. Two weeks of doing nothing but resting. Hadn't she already been here a week? That meant she'd be out of here by the end of the week and with luck her ankles would also heal relatively quickly. She let out a relieved sigh; it wasn't as bad as she'd thought.

A sudden thought crossed her mind.

"What day is it?"

"The 26th of September; a Wednesday," the doctor casually replied as he carefully held up her right leg. "Can you move your toes for me?"

Her relief was replaced with a sudden sinking feeling. It was only Wednesday? That meant she's be stuck here for at least four more days, five if she was unlucky. A frown formed on her face as she did what the doctor instructed, repeating the test with her left foot, both feet moving stiffly but without too much difficulty.

"Well," the brown-eyed doctor said as he was done with her feet, setting them back down and covering them with her white bed covers, "looks like everything's healing normally. With any luck you'll be out of my hair before I know it," he continued as he once again grabbed the clipboard to write something on the papers. "Now that that's out of the way, the police requested that we ask you a few questions. You up for it?" he asked her as he took a seat in the chair stationed next to her bed, pulling out an envelope from the contents of his coat pocket, muttering something about how lazy the local police were when they made him do their job.

"_It doesn't look like he's giving me any choice, is he?_" she thought as she pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning her back against the white wall. "_What happened to _him_ answering _my_ questions?_"

"Yeah, I guess…" she replied feeling a little irritated and then turned to face him, looking at him a little anxiously. "Why are the police involved anyway?"

"Why wouldn't they be? You were found injured in the middle of nowhere, kid. I've seen a lot of things during my career and you're definitely a classic case; there has to be some sort of crime behind it," he replied as he began to open the envelope and pull out some documents.

"_Seriously, did she get brain damage as well or was she always this dense?_" he thought and checked her medical chart to look at her EEG results. Straightening out the documents in his hands, he eyed the list of questions given to him by the police officers a few days earlier. "_Hmph, a few questions my ass…_"

"Keep in mind this is part of an investigation so answer truthfully. First things first; state your name, social security number and birthday before we really get started."

A long moment of silence passed between them before he looked up from his work, still lacking a reply from her. His brown eyes met a pair of confused greyish blue ones. "Hey, kid, the sooner you answer these the better."

She blinked slowly as she kept staring at him. "So… You don't know who I am…?"

"_What, you a rock star or something?_" he mused dryly and rolled his eyes.

"Well obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have asked it in the first place. We here at the clinic need this information as much as the police in order to make treating you easier. Up until now we've known you as patient 199 and your patient file doesn't have that much lifesaving information either," he replied bluntly and rearranged the documents in front of him, the pen he was holding tapping impatiently at the first few rows of text. He gave her a waiting look before concentrating back on the documents. "I haven't got all day you know. "

"I…I don- I don't…" she mumbled and the doctor raised his gaze to look at her. "I don't know," she finally managed to voice out, causing the doctor to roll his eyes again.

"Save the cheekiness for later and just answer the question. What's your name?" he stubbornly pressed on.

She shook her head vigorously. "I just… I can't remember. I can't remember anything!" she exclaimed. "I don't even know my name! Why can't I remember?"

The documents in the doctor's hands almost slid through his fingers as he watched the scene in front of him. He stared at the bewildered girl in front of him who was now concentrating on crying her eyes out, taking in what she had just said.

She couldn't remember? That wasn't good, she must've hit her head far worse than he'd first suspected. This had to be the result of either a serious concussion or experiencing massive trauma. The mind often shut down as a way to protect itself and he'd seen it a few times during his career, mostly with rape victims.

He checked her chart for what seemed to be the hundredth time during her stay at the clinic, suddenly feeling the need to read through the information once more. He quickly found a summery of all her known information.

"_Patient 199, room 207.  
><em>_Admitted 19__th__ of September at 11.37am.  
><em>_Unknown Caucasian female, estimated age 15 to 20.  
><em>_Physical trauma to left arm and head. X-ray pictures confirm trauma to both ankles.  
><em>_Patient unconscious.  
><em>_Allergies unknown.  
><em>_All narcotics tests negative.  
><em>_No signs of sexual assault."_

The information on the last row of text both relieved and displeased him.

"_Damn, so it's probably not a case of post-traumatic amnesia,"_ he cursed mentally as he raked his mind for any other possible explanations for the girl's sudden memory loss. _"I'll have to conduct more tests. Jeez, why couldn't this be another boring case?_" he thought as he tried to get the girl to calm down and prevent her from causing more harm to herself.

"_Such an unlucky kid,_" he mentally sighed as he pressed a button to call for a nurse to aid him with the struggling girl.


	5. Chapter 3 Bedridden

**A/N:** Chapter three is finally here! I'm sorry it took this long to update TSOT, but at least I managed to finish it for my unofficial deadline, an update per month. Anyway, since this chapter is a little short, I'll try to finish the next one in three weeks or less, if possible. I've recently started a new job and it'll unfortunately take up a huge chunk of my time, but I'm feeling hopeful.

Once again a big thanks to my lovely betas whom without this story wouldn't be as enjoyable to write or read! :)

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Bedridden<p>

Eleven days.

That was how many days had passed since the unknown girl had been admitted into the clinic. Eleven days and he still had not been able to fully diagnose her.

"_Damnit."_

Dr. Harlow let out a frustrated sigh as he once again read all of the information they had managed to find out about the girl, her patient file almost ripping apart from the impossibly large number of tests and other papers that had been shoved into it.

There really wasn't much to say about her; aside from the injuries she'd received prior to being found, she was honestly a reasonably healthy girl. Or young woman, that is if what she claimed turned out to be true.

The thirty-one year old doctor felt his lips jerk into an irritated frown as he remembered the events that had happened merely hours ago while he was doing a routine check-up on the girl, or kid as he liked to call her. A rather annoying and stubborn kid.

"_I'm not a little kid, you know? I'm nineteen,"_ she had suddenly pointed out, her statement completely disrupting what ever he'd been doing at the time.

The doctor leaned further into his office chair and flipped through a few pages of the girl's patient file until he finally found the summary. His eyes lingered on her estimated age, presumed to be from 15 to 20 years old.

He let out an amused huff; the girl looked so young, there was no way she could have been older than fifteen, sixteen at the very most. He'd taken one look at the unconscious girl when she'd been brought in and thought whoever had done the estimation was horribly off-track, not to mention an idiot. It turned out that the senior physician wasn't as senile as he'd thought him to be; clearly he'd picked up something during his long medical career.

And now he owed his colleague 1500 Pokédollars, damnit.

Dr. Harlow repressed the urge to throw the thick file in his hands into the wall, deciding to merely continue reading through it, yet again.

He had two strong theories about the case; one, the girl was faking her condition to get some undeserved attention as well as treated for free or two, she actually was suffering from serious amnesia, though he was still debating what type of amnesia she actually had. He was starting to lean towards theory number two, though the girl's sudden statement earlier that day made him a little suspicious. He should probably give the police permission to perform the polygraph test they'd been pestering him to allow them to do for a few days now. At least it would prove either one of his theories and finally help him get rid of that annoying kid.

He let out an irritated sigh; this case really was testing his medical skills, wasn't it? In all honesty he actually didn't mind working on something other than colds and sprained ankles for a change. The case was a nice change of pace but his patient could have been more cooperative with the healing process as well as learn to keep her mouth shut.

"_Honestly, that girl should learn to think before opening her mouth,_" he thought as he recalled the last brief discussion they'd forcibly shared about her possible release date that seemed to get pushed on by a few days every other day, much to her great displeasure, as well as his.

Thinking back, he couldn't remember when he'd last had to think this much over any case, probably during his med-school years. Nothing truly challenging tended to happen around Cherrygrove, and even if it did, people preferred to seek help mainly in Goldenrod.

Stupid, freaking Goldenrod.

He almost crushed one of the many x-ray scans he'd been looking at as he thought about Johto's most respected and largest hospital, Goldenrod Central Hospital. The hospital any self-respecting and ambitious doctor would give their right arm to work at. The hospital he deserved to work at, not some dying, run-down clinic in the middle of nowhere.

Dr. Harlow let out a long sigh, roughly rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. He needed to calm down and focus on something other than an overly respected working place, preferably the case in hand.

"_Besides_," he thought as he resumed back into his work, "_Goldenrod's apartment rents are through the roof and you'd have to be the freakin' Champion to be able to afford to buy a flat._"

Not even ten minutes back into his reading he was once again starting to wish he'd never taken the case in the first place. He must've done something to upset the senior physician when the older man had dumped the difficult case over to him.

"_Just the type of case you deserve Harlow, you'll finally be able to show me what you can do,"_ Dr. Anderson, his boss, had chuckled in good humor, though his words had clearly rang of the poorly concealed message of 'less ego, more results'. He'd never hear the end of it if he couldn't crack this case.

"_That spiteful geezer_," he cursed and turned his gaze to look outside his window, finding himself hoping for anything out of the ordinary to happen that could liberate him from his work. You never knew when the legendary beasts would finally snap and decide to destroy Johto, hopefully starting with this sad excuse of a hospital if they ever did.

As if on cue his office phone suddenly started ringing, the sound of the high-pitched ringtone making him turn his attention to the large phone on his desk. He frowned deeply as he realized who was calling him; the caller's all too familiar number blinking on the phone's screen. His initial thought was to just let it ring and wait for it to go into voice mail but after a few moments he decided against it and reached out for the phone, answering it just in the nick of time.

"What do you want?" he barked into the receiver and set the file aside, slouching back into his chair while cursing his existence at that moment. He'd rather be fried to death by Raikou than have to talk to this person.

"Hi Miles, nice to hear you haven't changed since the last time we spoke," a male voice answered back in an almost carefree tone. "How are things in Cherrygrove? Quiet I'd imagine? Still got that transfer to Goldenrod?"

Miles squeezed the receiver in his hand and fought to swallow up most of his irritation, letting out a humorless mock laugh in the end. "No, I haven't. Besides, even if I were offered a job there I couldn't transfer just yet. Believe it or not but it's been quite busy here lately," he stated, remembering all of the extra hours he'd spent on his recent case.

"Is that so? So I take it you're staying in Cherrygrove, huh?" the other man inquired in a good humor.

"No, I walk from Olivine to Cherrygrove every morning and then back once my shift's ended. Of course I'm in Cherrygrove, you idiot!" Miles replied pointedly and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "What is it to you anyway? Don't tell me you're planning to come visit…"

"Hehheh, well, as a matter of fact I am. You see, Hoenn really doesn't inspire me like it used to. So what'd you say Miles, care to house your little brother for a little while? A week or so at the most," the man asked in his typical singsong voice. He didn't have to wait long for his brother to reply.

"No," Miles said bluntly. He could still remember the countless of times he'd mistakenly agreed to house his brother for what was supposed to be a day or two. Somehow Beau always ended up staying with him in his apartment in Olivine for at least two weeks until one day he'd simply vanish without as much as leaving a note.

"_Artists, freaking freeloaders the lot of them,_" he mentally growled upon remembering Beau's last visit when the bastard had even taken his lunch money for the week, leaving him to survive solemnly on crackers. Needless to say, it had been the most pathetic week of his existence so far and he wasn't planning on reliving the feeling anytime soon.

"Aww, come on Miles, don't be like that. We're family!" Beau gasped overdramatically on the other end. "Surely I could stay at least a day? I wouldn't be any trouble…"

"I said no!" Miles grunted back and brought a hand to his face to rub his tired eyes. "Go stay at mom and dad's house if you so desperately want to come visit, I think they'd just about take you in."

"Naah, you know I don't like staying over there; mom's too overbearing and dad keeps pestering me about "getting a real job like my brother"," Beau replied matter-of-factly. "Hey I know! I could always stay at your apartment in Olivine by myself if you're too busy over there in Cherrygrove!" he suggested a little too enthusiastically. "I could come over to get the keys and head for Olivine to enjoy a little seaside scenery for a week or two. You wouldn't even have to see me if that's what you want."

"Beau."

"You know what, some good ol' sea air would work wonders on me."

"Beau."

"No, scratch that, - the seaside, the countryside, cities, towns… anything! Absolutely anything! Just not Hoenn."

"Will you just shut up already!" Miles snapped at his brother, feeling beyond irritated. He was going through this with Beau for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "What did you get yourself into this time?" Miles inquired in a menacing tone, his voice rising an octave or two towards the end as he waited for his brother's reply. "Tell me the truth and I'll possibly reconsider your request."

There was a laugh on the other end, followed up with a long sigh.

"What? Why do you always assume I've gotten myself into trouble? Honestly Miles, can't family members visit one another from time to time?" Beau once again spoke with a more than carefree tone, earning an exasperated sigh from Miles.

"That's because you never visit if that weren't the case!" he barked back before reaching back for the neglected medical file on his office desk, browsing through it to focus his mind on something else. "You honestly think I'd believe that crap about Hoenn getting old? You haven't been gone more than half a year Beau; I can't imagine how you'd be able to travel through every square feet of that region in such a short timespan! And sea air my ass - Hoenn practically breaths seawater!"

"Well I didn't say that I had now did I? Anyway, it's more about the people, not the scenery…"

"What, no one buying your work? Huge shocker," Miles replied sarcastically as he flipped through more pages.

"How dare you! I'll have you know people really knew their art here in Hoenn, especially good ones like mine. I got new job offers like crazy!" Beau replied, sounding clearly offended.

"Let me guess, you took more work than you could manage? Painted in a hurry and under-succeeded? Charged money for unfinished work in advance and ran?" the young doctor guessed sounding rather uninterested. He'd heard the same story at least four times before and his brother's stupidity was beginning to irritate him. "Fucking idiot."

"That wasn't it at all! I just… got distracted. And the projects were really boring, it killed my inspiration!" Beau tried to defend himself, but like always Miles could read him like an open book, even if it was just his voice.

"And with distractions you mean either drinking, gambling, women, or all three of them, right?" he mocked sharply, letting out a long sigh. "That's an artist's life for you."

Beau laughed dryly on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted quietly before changing his tone into a more pleading one. "Please Miles, just let me stay for a little while. I'll even pay you this time if that's what it takes to change your mind!" he all but begged, and Miles could picture him kneeling down wherever he was calling from at that moment. He probably looked even more pathetic than he sounded.

He let out an irritated sigh and decided that the call had dragged on for too long. "Look Beau, I still have work to do and I'm honestly too tired to listen to your sorry excuses to freelo-," he began to lecture until Beau stopped him abruptly.

"I swear Miles, if you agree to this now then you'll get back every last penny I've ever borrowed from you just as soon as my arm heals! I promise!"

Miles was just about ready to end the call when something hit him. "What happened to your arm?" he asked a little cautiously, not sure whether he really wanted to know. Out of all of the lame see-through excuses he'd been forced to listen to over the years not once had Beau actually lied about injuring himself.

"_Painters don't joke around with such topics,_" he remembered Beau once tell him.

Miles understood his brother's reasoning; any sort of physical injury could possibly destroy an artist's career whereas the very same thing gave him a living. The irony.

"It's nothing big, just a sprain… or two," Beau replied sounding a little off, his voice almost wavering. "I, um… I'd rather not talk about it. Not over the phone at least."

Miles considered his brother's reply for a minute. The young painter had always been horrible at lying and this was no exception. If it'd been just that, Miles wouldn't have hesitated a second and ended the call. This time though the odd waver in Beau's voice told him this was something much more serious than just a sprain. He already regretted his decision as he readjusted the phone's receiver in order to answer him.

"Alright, I give up. You can come stay here," he sighed into the receiver and rubbed his temples. "But I better get a good explanation or I'll kick you out before you can say Smeargle!"

.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o.-o

Intense bluish grey eyes stared back at her as she studied the unfamiliar girl in front of her. Her first thought about her was that she was quite slim and obviously shorter than the averaged woman (an observation she'd deduced by comparing the height of some nurses), standing somewhere around 5'3''. She was dressed in a short-sleeved, light blue hospital gown that reached down to her knees, the rest of her slender legs bound by two bright pink casts, the intense color instantly grabbing one's attention.

Her face – while somewhat neutral, she noticed - was a little childlike, and that together with her rather big eyes made her look younger than she actually was. She was beginning to understand, though a little bitterly, why people made false assumptions of the girl's age.

Aside from her intense gaze, the girl's most striking feature had to be her mid-back long hair, which was an odd shade of blue. She wondered whether it was all natural or just dyed.

"_Is that… Prussian blue?_" she wondered as she hesitantly moved her hand towards the girl's hair, absentmindedly noticing that she was mirroring her movements, their hands moving closer and closer.

They were just about to touch the other's hand when something cool and hard stopped them, almost like a barrier in between them. She saw the look of surprise in the girl's eyes and quickly let her arm fall back to her side, watching as the girl mimicked her action perfectly. She let out a breath of air and took a step back from the girl, resuming her observation.

Once again those intense bluish grey eyes met her own as she studied herself in the medium sized mirror that was stationed above the small sink in her room. She'd considered taking a peak at the mirror for days but only now had she been able to muster the courage to actually do it.

"_So this is what I look like,_" she wondered as she shifted the angled of her body in front of the mirror. It was a bizarre feeling seeing oneself without any recognition.

She brought her right hand up to her long, messy Prussian blue hair and started to loosely comb it with her fingers. Her bangs seemed overgrown as they kept getting in her line of vision, and without much thought she pushed them to the left side of her face, which seemed to make the unfamiliar hairstyle feel more natural.

"_Maybe I used to wear it like this in the past as well,_" she thought and continued to comb her messy locks, realizing she really needed to wash them.

Thinking back, she couldn't remember when she'd last taken a shower. One of the nurses had told her they'd cleaned her up after she'd been admitted to the clinic, but after that her personal hygiene hadn't exactly been their top priority. She felt slightly disgusted about the information and decided she'd wash herself in the sink if her doctor didn't give her permission to shower the next time she demanded it.

Dr. Harlow hadn't really changed during the time she'd regained consciousness. At first she'd thought that the man was simply having a bad day, but after almost a week of his constant foul mood and spiteful manner she'd decided that the blond was just born that way. It seemed like he had made it his life's mission to make everyone else feel as unhappy as he was, and without fail he'd managed to ruin most of her days with his numerous, pointless check-ups.

To be blunt, the guy was an ass.

She frowned slightly as she finished her hair-maintenance, focusing her eyes on the horrid pink plasters on her legs.

"_He's also the only person around that can help me,_" she thought unenthusiastically. "_Damn, why couldn't have he just picked another color?_"

She continued observing herself in the mirror when suddenly the door of her room all but flew open without as much as a knock to ask for permission to enter. She immediately knew who her visitor was by just those traits, and she turned her head to face the grumpy jerk known as Dr. Harlow. His eyes widened just a tad with what she could guess as disbelief upon seeing her out of bed, and she mentally braced herself for what she knew would be a scolding.

"You idiot! What're you doing all up and about? What part of 'stay in bed and rest' don't you understand?" he snapped sharply and slammed the door close. "Bed. Now!" he ordered and pointed at the empty hospital bed to empathize the demand.

She gave him a blank stare before shaking her head. "No," she said rather bluntly, staying just where she was. "I'm tired of resting and doing nothing all day with only your cheerful check-ups to look forward to. My legs are already feeling better so can't you just let it slide and let me walk around?"

Dr. Harlow gritted his teeth together and purposely stomped down next to the small nightstand near the bed, slamming down a stack of papers he'd been carrying with him with more force than necessary. He turned his gaze back to her, a look of annoyance plastered on his face.

"Listen kid, injuries like yours don't get better this quickly. To let you prance around now would mean having to keep you here for the next month, which I personally couldn't stand. If you know what's best for you I suggest you drag yourself back in bed and stay there like everyone else or I'll have to resort to other methods," he warned her.

She gave him an irritated glance. "I told you not to call me that! I'm not some little kid, I'm nineteen! Nineteen!" she fumed at him before turning away. "There's no way I'm doing what you say just because you're a doctor. It's my body!" she stated while ignoring said doctor, feeling oddly smug even though she knew she was acting rather immaturely. "If you want me to move you'll just have to carry me or dra- …H-hey!" her sentence was cut short by her scream as the young doctor finally lost his patience with her, resorting to just what his patient had suggested as he picked her up without much difficultly and started to walk towards the empty bed.

"W-what're you doing? Put me down!" she protested in the midst of her struggles, seemingly having no effect on the man.

Dr. Harlow merely grunted as he all but dropped her back onto the bed, crossing his arms in a menacing manner as he glared at her.

"Didn't I just warn you? Now, you'll stay in that bed willingly for as long as I say or I'll drug and tie you up. Understood?" he snapped, the tone of his voice leaving nothing to argue about.

"…_Pedophile._"

She said nothing for a while before reluctantly nodding her head once. The last thing she wanted was to get rendered to a helpless and disorientated vegetable, because she knew the doctor would eventually do it once he got too tired of her antics. The only thing she could do now was to listen to the man and try not to irritate him too much.

"Yeah, I understand," she muttered in defeat as she readjusted her position in the all too familiar bed. "You could be a little nicer to your patients you know. Maybe then they'd actually enjoy getting treated here."

Dr. Harlow, who had already picked up the stack of papers he'd had with him, ignored her completely as he flipped through a few pages before walking to the other side of the bed, extending his arm to grab hold of her formerly infected wrist. He worked swiftly and silently, rolling off the old bandaging and turning her arm ever so often to study her nearly closed wounds. Once he was done, he sprayed some antibiotic spray on the wounds and re-wrapped the arm in clean bandaging.

"So?" she finally managed to ask as the doctor wrote something down in her patient file. "Is it healing normally?"

"Normally enough. The wounds have started closing up and there doesn't seem to be any infection trapped inside. You can probably start using your hand in a day or so," he answered slowly, all the while continuing to write down something in her file. "That reminds me; we managed to figure out what bit you," he stated as he raised his eyes from the file, giving her an oddly serious look.

She felt strangely anxious about the piece of information, licking her suddenly dry lips before opening her mouth.

"Well? What was it?"

Dr. Harlow shrugged once. "Judging by the bite width and shape of the teeth it was most likely either a Houndour or a Growlithe but we can't say for sure. The sizes of the tooth marks were also abnormally large, but that might just be because of the Pokémon's large size. Anyway, neither is known to carry such aggressive bacteria so my guess is that it was wild."

She took a moment to process the information.

So a wild Pokémon bit her? Where had she been found again, Route 30? That meant she was probably bit there.

"Can you run into either of those Pokémon on the route I was found?" she asked curiously, a sliver of hope rising in her mind. This was the first piece of useful information she'd gotten during her stay at the clinic and she wanted to get as much out of the doctor she could.

"What, near Route 30? Not even close kid. As far as I know the only routes those Pokémon appear on are 7, 8, 36 and 37," he answered with a dry laugh. "Though you never know when and where trainers dump their unwanted Pokémon so I guess there might be a few running wild here and there across the region," he added with another shrug of his shoulders and proceeded with his routine check-up, moving to her fractured ankles with an irritated sigh.

"Seriously, how stupid are you to go walking around when your ankles have barely even started healing? You'd think that the pain would've been too much to even put any weight on them in the first place," he scolded her as a way to vent out his irritation as he gingerly started to examine her right foot.

"What pain? I hardly felt anything during the 'oh so crippling' fifteen steps it took from my bed to the sink," she shot back automatically. "That reminds me, I want to take a bath, I feel disgusting."

She could see the tiny smirk on the doctor's face as he continued to work on her foot.

"Yes, you would, wouldn't you," he answered, though it sounded more like he was talking to himself rather than her. "Seems like I can finally cut down on your pain medication if you can't even feel that your legs are broken. You'll probably hurt like hell but at least you'll stay in bed. It'd save some morphine for people who actually appreciate it."

"And what about my bath?" she pressed on. If she'd be bedridden for the next few days or so she'd at least demand a bath in return.

"Please, like you could take a bath in that condition," Dr. Harlow laughed dryly. "We don't even have a bathtub here, only showers. You'll get to use one once your ankles have healed enough."

"And when's that exactly? You said I could start putting weight on them after a week," she pointed out accusingly, remembering what the doctor had told her the first time she'd met him. "Hey, didn't you say the Pokémon that bit me wasn't from this region? How can it now be something that appears a few routes onwards?" she asked skeptically.

Dr. Harlow sighed in irritation. "Listen, I'm not the one investigating where you got your injuries, I'm the one healing them. Those morons at the police do all of the research and provide us with some background information. As you just heard, they frequently screw up and make my work that much harder. Honestly, is being an idiot a criteria to graduate from police school these days?" he ranted as he finished examining her ankles, once again writing something down in her file. "Anyway, they'll be here later in the evening to question you. Probably give you a lie detector test as well."

"W-what?" she asked, sounding a little taken aback. She'd been tuning out most of his earlier rant and had nearly missed his last sentences altogether. "A lie detector test, what for?"

The blond shrugged. "Beats me. I'll be supervising the test so I'll finally get some much-needed answers as well. I'm guessing they'll do a more modern test since they need a doctor to supervise."

"That sounds rather ominous… Do I get the choice to refuse?" she asked tentatively, the question earning a snort from the doctor.

"Of course you don't you idiot. Besides, not wanting to take the test only makes you look more suspicious than you already are."

"How can I look suspicious when I haven't done anything wrong!" she shot back, feeling rather anxious about the whole idea. It just didn't seem… right. Maybe it was because the police were involved; this'd be the first time she'd even meet the 'idiot officers' as Dr. Harlow liked to refer to them as. "I hardly remember anything before I woke up so what use would the test be when I don't even know who I am?"

"Why would I know something like that?" he snapped back as he threw her patient file away and begun to head for the door. Opening the door, he turned his head to give her a pointed glare. "You better not do anything stupid while I'm gone. If I even hear a whisper about you getting out of that bed I swear I won't hesitate to strap you in a straightjacket and drug you unconscious," he grunted before swiftly closing the door, thus ending yet another pointless check-up.

"Pervert," she mumbled under her breath as she shifted backwards until her back hit the wall. Leaning back, she thought furiously about the up-coming test. Worry began fogging her mind as she realized there wasn't any way she could avoid it. All she could hope for was that the officers were as stupid as she'd heard.


	6. Chapter 4 A name for the nameless

**A/N: **No, this isn't a dream; I'm actually updating, go figure. Yeah, I'm sorry that I haven't been all that active with this story for the last half a year or so, really apologize about that :/ I was so busy with work and studying for my entrance exams that I simply didn't have the time nor energy to write as much as I would've wanted. Fortunately, or regrettably, whichever way you want to see it, I've been sick for some days now and got around finishing this chapter, as well as starting the next one. I'm aiming to get it finished before Christmas but you never know...

Anyway, thank you all so much for being patient with me, and once again a huge thanks to my beta Miss Tigger for spot-on work! ^^

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: A name for the nameless<p>

Tic-tock. Tic-tock. Tic-tock.

Patient 199 stared intensely at the small round clock hanging on the wall just across her bed, her anxiety growing with every passing second. Her eyes followed the thin but long second hand as it continued its never ending journey around the face of the clock, her mind all too aware of how long she had already waited for something - anything - to happen. An ever-growing sense of irritation began clouding her mind as she forcibly tore her eyes away from the clock, landing them on the first thing she saw outside her window.

Her bluish grey eyes studied the shape of a group of slowly moving clouds, the light of the already setting sun splashing vivid colors all across the horizon as well as the clouds. She watched in slight awe at the different shades of reds and oranges as they melted into one large piece of nature's art, the mesmerizing sight making her wish she were actually outside to experience it to the fullest. Her eyes briefly darted to the cause of her current situation; two outrageously pink casts that more or less tied her to her bed, the horrid casts binding her only slightly fractured ankles.

She let out a frustrated sigh as she once again glanced at the clock, her spirit sinking upon noticing that not even three minutes had passed since the last time she'd checked it. Absently flexing the fingers of her left hand, she dropped her eyes back to her plastered legs, giving them a murderous look.

_If it weren't for these stupid ankles I'd already be out of this godforsaken place,_ she thought bitterly, empathizing the thought by lightly punching the cast on her left leg. She ended up giving it another slightly harder jab, though she seriously regretted having done so a moment later as her ankle was suddenly stabbed with a quick and sharp pain, the intensity nearly making her cry out aloud.

"Okay, not my brightest idea," she mumbled thought gritted teeth as she held her leg, the pain having already dimmed to an annoying throbbing. Sending a venomous glare at the door, she cursed her ass of a doctor for taking her off of the stronger pain medication, surprised that the effects were already taking effect mere hours after her final dose of morphine. She could almost picture him giving her one of his annoyingly smug smirks about her latest glory moment, the age-old cliché of 'I told you so' radiating from his persona.

Scowling, she turned her attention back to her window and promptly decided she'd stay like that until either the police or some nurse with her dinner entered her room. The sun had already set almost entirely and most of the sky had taken a purplish coloring to it, with just a few specs of pink and gold here and there. She could almost get used to sunsets like this…

Tic-tock. Tic-tock. Tic-tock.

"Dammit! How much longer are they going to take?" she yelled out in exasperation, once again finding herself staring at the clock. She'd already been waiting for over two hours and there had yet to be any sign of the police.

_Or that damn doctor for that matter,_ she thought impatiently.

Secretly she wondered if Dr. Harlow had been bluffing about the police to scare her into cooperating with him, as well as make her that much more miserable. Be it what may, with the look of how things were currently progressing, she'd probably be woken up in the middle of the night if the officers ever decided to show up.

_Honestly, when does their shift start? Three in the morning?_

She'd almost given up waiting relatively quietly when there was a sudden knock on the door, the little act of consideration nearly making her jump out of her bed from surprise. One thing was absolute; the person behind the door sure wasn't her doctor.

She spent a few long seconds just staring at the closed door, wondering why the person behind it hadn't already entered. After another similar knock, she finally realized the person was waiting for her permission to enter.

_That's new,_ she laughed dryly in the privacy of her mind as she took one last peek at the clock, the second hand having just started a new round. _6.28pm, finally!_

"Come in," she murmured deep in thought, suddenly feeling very nervous. A part of her hoped that it would only be a nurse with her food but she knew all too well that it was merely wishful thinking; it was still an hour too early for her un-appetizing hospital dinner anyway.

Her suspicions were confirmed when two unfamiliar men entered the room, both giving her a curt nod as they locked gazes. The men were wearing dark blue police uniforms and caps, and were surprisingly young looking, most likely not even thirty years old.

_What is it with the young employees, I got the feeling this town was practically dying of old age,_ she wondered as she stared at the young officers, an atmosphere of high authority almost radiating from their beings, especially from the first one. _Well isn't that just lovely…_

"Good evening miss and sorry for the intrusion," the officer who had entered first apologized while the other closed the door with a barely noticeable 'thud'. "We can imagine that it's a bit of a shock for you to see us. You are 'the mystery girl', aren't you? Patient 199, if I recall."

"Yeah, that's me. Good evening," she replied nervously, her voice sounding embarrassingly off-pitched and higher than usual.

Her nervousness couldn't have been more obvious as she exchanged glances with both of the officers. A ridiculous, nearly maniacal smile was plastered on her face and it made her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. Prying her eyes away from the two officers, she focused them at her hands, suddenly feeling rather interested in the white bed covers she'd begun to twist in her hands.

The two officers observed her for a moment before exchanging quick nods with one another, their movement causing the girl to glance at them once again.

"There's no need to be nervous, young miss, you're in capable hands," the other officer stated as the two of them approached her bed, stopping at a comfortable distance away, a couple of feet from the bed. They stood side by side and both reached into one of their pockets, pulling out some badges and identification forms.

"Officers Vincent Alvey and Luke Emerson," they introduced themselves in unison, Alvey on the right and Emerson on the left. "We've been assigned to your case."

She took a moment to study the men investigating her case, already getting the feeling she'd need to remember their faces. The one on the right, officer Alvey, was rather plain looking, having short black hair and grey eyes. He was a little shorter than his partner, though she could tell that both were taller than Dr. Harlow. Officer Emerson on the other hand had chin length, shaggy auburn colored hair and light blue eyes with a few freckles running across his nose and cheeks. He also had slightly crooked teeth, she noted, as he smirked encouragingly at her.

"So, what do they call you young miss?" he inquired in a good manner, the tone of his voice sounding surprisingly casual for the situation, probably to help lessen her anxiety. "We can't just continue on calling you young miss forever, now can we?"

Her right eye twitched in irritation upon hearing the word young being used too often, and she had to bit her tongue so she wouldn't bark out her usual rant about her age. She absolutely didn't want to blurt out threats that she may or may not keep to the police of all people.

"…Nothing in particular, I guess," she answered after a moment, sounding a little reserved.

As far as her knowledge went on the matter, the nurses only ever referred to her as either 'mystery girl', 'amnesia child' or 'that poor sweetie', the later of the used names her most hated one of them all, though the other two followed close by. She also happened to know that her ass of a doctor constantly gave her new aliases, the latest being 'Bluk Berry Brain', whatever that was. She had no intention of telling the officers any of these names though, preferring to keep this piece of double-bladed knowledge to herself.

"I don't mind being called 'miss', just leave out the young part and it's fine," she ended up saying, concluding that it was best to choose a name herself than risk having the two ask one from the nurses.

Emerson frowned and gave his partner a slightly disappointed look, the other merely rolling his eyes in semi-exasperation.

"What? You thought you'd instantly get her name and Pokégear number with that lame smirk of yours?" Alvey laughed dryly and gave his partner a pointed look. "How is it possible that after all these years such a catch like you continues to stay single?"

A faint shade of red crept on the other man's face as he obviously tried to come up with a witty comeback, though failing to do so.

"S-shut up," he stammered sounding thoroughly embarrassed, thus loosing the last bits of credibility he may or may not have had in front of the girl, her view of the two officers bickering beside her bed starting to take a complete one-eighty. For what she could make out of the confusing squabble, it seemed like the duo had problems keeping things as professional as possible whenever something didn't go as planned, in her case being her 'adorable yet slightly humorous responses', at least according to the red haired and miserably single officer.

_Wow, Dr. Harlow wasn't kidding when he said these two were idiots,_ she thought in the privacy of her mind, trying her hardest not to look too relieved. For some reason she suspected this could have been merely an act to make her careless by making her feel more at ease around the two officers; the police were ultimately supposed to be one's friend and she didn't want them to have any reason to doubt her word.

It seemed like the two policemen had already brushed aside their arguing, both of them finally regaining a more professional state of mind as they focused on the matter at hand. Alvey lightly cleared his throat to gain the girl's full attention, and after having done so, began explaining the situation, all the while masking his face with a trained, blank expression.

"We understand you're aware of the nature of our visit, miss. Somehow I get the feeling that the good doctor must have mentioned about the on-going police investigation concerning your case as well as the necessary procedures needed to proceed with it," he spoke briskly, his voice heavy with newly acquired credibility.

She merely nodded, suddenly feeling nervous all over again. She much more preferred the less than professional attitude the duo had given her only a moment ago, though she got the feeling it was impossible to handle something like this so casually. Feeling anxious about what lay ahead, she spared a glance at her menacingly unmoving door, finding herself almost wishing that Dr. Harlow would suddenly storm in and save her from the two officers.

_Where is that jerk anyway, didn't he say he'd be here to supervise or something?_ she thought angrily upon remembering what the doctor had told her during his last check-up. Well, she might as well take advantage of the situation.

Locking her eyes with Emerson, she tried her luck.

"Listen, I appreciate it that you took the time to come see me but I don't think I'll be able to answer any questions today, let alone go through some test," she began calmly, giving the officers her own well-trained false smile, the overbearing nurses of the clinic having played a key role in its credibility. "I'm still in a considerable amount of pain and my mind's a bit fuzzy from all of the pain meds they keep giving me, so I doubt the test would be of any use. I'm terribly sorry," she explained sheepishly, an apologetic expression now plastered on her face.

Emerson studied her face for a while, his facial expression for once somewhat serious. She was beginning to feel a little creeped out from his surprisingly intense gaze and with nothing better to do, she once again began twisting her covers in her hands. An ever-growing smirk was beginning to form on the man's face as he finally turned his gaze to his left to look at his partner, a knowing look in his eyes.

_Shit…_

"So, you actually have the guts to lie so openly to an officer, huh? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you're a terrible liar, young miss," he told her flat on, earning an astonished look from the girl. "I might not look like much but I can tell when people are lying to me. Granted, you might be in pain but that's probably due to the _lack_ of medication as well as reckless behavior, am I right?" he inquired with a grin, enjoying the shocked expression on the girl's face slowly change to a slightly irritated one. "Besides, you seem well enough to keep up a fairly intelligible conversation so I doubt you wouldn't be able to take the test, ey, young miss?"

Once again she felt her eye twitch as she stared fiercely at the red haired officer, firmly deciding she didn't care what sort of first impression she made anymore.

"…You spoke with my doctor, didn't you?" she more so accused than asked, refusing to believe that the guy could tell all those things just by looking at her. She didn't believe that he was that smart. "Either that or you really can tell when you're being lied to, go figure," she muttered seemingly in deep thought, giving the man a faint smirk before continuing, her voice changing sickly sweet as she stared pointedly at the red haired officer. "But I have to wonder, did you sacrifice a part of your brain for that talent because I specifically remember telling you to merely call me miss. Not young, not kid, just miss. Ring any bells, eh, you freckled tomato?"

Granted, 'freckled tomato' wasn't nearly as creative as she'd liked it to be but it would have to do for now. In any case, the look on the man's face was priceless.

After yet another tense silence, it was Alvey who finally broke the silence with a laugh mixed sigh. "Touché. I hate to be the one to tell you this Luke but I think you just got bested," he snorted in a good manner as his partner grumbled something obscure in defeat. Focusing his grey eyes on the girl, he gave her a solemn smile, an expression she yet hadn't seen during the days she'd spent at the clinic.

"I like your spunk, you've probably needed it with Mr. Sunshine as your doctor," he mused.

She rolled her eyes at the comment before giving him a small smile. "Thanks, I guess." It was weird getting praised all of a sudden, and by a police officer no less.

_Better not get used to it…_

"So, where is 'the good doctor' anyway?" she asked cautiously, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm from her voice at the 'good' comment. "Don't tell me he ditched me to fend for myself while he's out watching grass grow?"

Emerson seemed like he couldn't help but let a wide grin plaster itself on his face as he motioned for the door with his head. "Oh, don't worry about Miles, he'll be here shortly."

There was a long stretch of silence as the girl stared at the two officers rather intensely, her lips slowly forming into a frown.

"Miles?" she repeated sounding a little confused. "Who's that?"

Another few seconds of complete silence passed as the two officers gave her a disbelieving stare, the silence pressing on until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Fine, just ignore what I said, everyone else seems to," she murmured quietly, squirming nervously under the men's heavy stares. She once again found herself hoping for the doctor to show up, almost laughing out loud for even thinking about him in the first place.

_I'd never hear the end of it if he ever found out that I actually want him to do his job…_

The officers exchanged a quick glance with one another, shrugging their shoulders as both came to the same conclusion.

_Nerves, that's got to be it. She's just nervous. Or maybe it's brain trauma. She'd been left in a pretty bad state._

"You know, Miles Harlow, as in the ever cheerful and public's favorite doctor in all of Johto?" Emerson replied nearly straight-faced as he searched for any signs of recognition in the girl, finding none. "Are you kidding me? You honestly don't even know the first name of your doctor? Unbelievable!" he cried out in disbelief, overdramatically emphasizing the matter with a face palm.

A strong shade of red gave away her embarrassment as she realized how stupid she must've seemed. Cursing her big mouth, she was determined to handle the awkward situation better than the now snickering red haired officer had mere moments ago. Crossing her arms, she resorted to the first thing that she could come up with, the truth, be it how pathetic.

"I don't see how I could've known something like that when he never even formally introduced himself," she stated bluntly, giving the red head a pointed stare. "Besides, I'm having enough trouble remembering who I am so knowing my doctor's first name or freakin' life story for that matter isn't really my top priority at the moment, you know?"

"Ah yes, thank you for reminding about that miss," Alvey cut in before Emerson could blurt out anything else non-professional.

_I still can't believe that they let him graduate,_ he sighed mentally, giving his partner a kind of look you'd give a misbehaving child, said partner trying his best to keep his mouth shut. _Maybe I should just let Miles stitch it shut, it'd do the world a favor,_ he mused and turned his attention back to the girl.

"As you know Dr. Harlow has to be present in order for us to perform the polygraph test, and seeing as he'll be absent for the next ten minutes or so, we'd like to make use of this spare time and take your official statement on the events of the 19th," he started explaining, slowly walking her through the process. "All you need to do is answer a few questions, preferably as thoroughly as possible. Understand?"

They had got to be kidding her. Here she'd been conscious for five days – a widely known fact in the small town of Cherrygrove – wondering where the hell the authorities were. Now, after nearly a week of pointless waiting and stress, the police finally decided to show up to take her statement about her 'accident' that supposedly happened eleven days ago. How in the hell could they possibly expect her to give a 'thorough statement' about something that happened nearly two weeks ago? She could hardly remember what she ate that morning for crying out loud! It must have been a side effect of the drugs…

Not hiding her frown, she gave Alvey a flat look. "You know you're just wasting your time with this. I couldn't remember anything about it back when I regained consciousness and still can't. Nothing I tell you would help your investigation."

"I'm sorry miss but protocol is protocol. We'll have to take your statement eventually," he shrugged, briefly glancing around the room. "This shouldn't take too long."

She responded with an audible, exasperated sigh, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position against the wall as she waited for the officers to pull a few chairs beside her bed and take their seats.

_Why me?_

~.~.~.

It was only mere minutes ago that Dr. Harlow had come to the conclusion that this was hands down the worst day of his existence. The fact that he had an unexpected double shift wouldn't normally so much as faze him, for at a clinic employing only four fulltime doctors it wasn't that uncommon for one of them to call in sick and the others having to fill in for them. He could handle the seldom phone call from his younger brother, though Beau's call that day had seriously strained the tolerance he'd learned to build for his brother. Having to deal with the police wasn't that unusual for him either, it was an inevitable part of his profession. He was more than used to the piling stacks of work his boss ever so often dumped on his shoulders, strongly believing that the man run on other people's stress, despair and nervous breakdowns.

He could normally handle all of this. The day would've been very, very unpleasant and tiring of course, a nearly perfect cocktail for a crappy day, but he could manage it. Just barely.

This, though, was where he drew the line from a simple hellish day to the day he wished he'd never even bothered to drag his ass to work in the first place. He should've just stayed home that day, called in sick and relax. And while he was at it he should've traveled to Ecruteak City and plunged himself off Bell Tower. If there'd ever been a day to get mobbed, hit by thunder a few times and have your body devoured by scavengers, this sure would've been that day.

Having had to leave the clinic to get a necessary object to aid the police, he slammed his apartment door shut and started to walk back to the clinic, muttering curses under his breath all the way as he closed the distance between his rental apartment and working place, almost giving the receptionist a heart attack as he stormed in, not even bothering to greet or apologize to her. He quickly glanced towards the waiting area where he'd ordered the two police officers to wait for his return, and after finding their seats empty he turned his attention to the nervous female receptionist.

"Where the hell are those two damned idiots I left for you to babysit? Don't dare tell me they decided to leave and come back another time," he snapped at the young woman who looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"No doctor, they're still here. They already went ahead to meet the patient, they said they had your permission," she explained nervously, possibly beginning to realize that the last part wasn't entirely true.

"…And you just gave them directions to the patient's room even though I specifically told you not to let them out of your sight?" he clarified, feeling seriously pissed off at the two officers.

After a rather reluctant answer from the receptionist and a fairly raw reply about what he thought about the matter, he rushed into his office to change back into his lab coat before starting to make his way to the blue haired girl's room. He pinched the bridge of his nose in a failing attempt to resist the urge to inject a lethal amount of an unnoticeable drug into either of the officers as he stopped behind a familiar door, once again neglecting to knock as he all but kicked it open, thus startling all three inside the room. He instantly locked eyes with the two male officers sitting beside his patient's bed, glaring maliciously at them as he slammed the door shut and stalked closer to the bed, stopping at the end of the bed.

The red haired officer, Emerson was his name if he recalled correctly, gave him a wide grin, showing a row of crooked teeth as he shoved an almost blank notebook into his pocket.

"Hi Miles, you didn't take long. I'm assuming you got what we need for the test, huh?" he inquired in a casual manner, making an already irritated Dr. Harlow want to punch him for the sheer joy of it.

"Officers Alvey and Emerson, do you by any chance need your ears checked on because I made it more than clear that you weren't permitted to enter this room before I got back!" he snapped at the two before turning his attention to the blue haired girl who'd been surprisingly quiet. "And you, didn't you find it odd at all that these two morons could just waltz in here without anyone supervising? You idiot!"

She gave him an angered look as she crossed her hands and turned to face the window. "Well how was I supposed to know that? Anyway, they were rather nice to me, unlike someone I have the displeasure of knowing," she replied pointedly, though actually feeling rather relieved that he'd burst in when he had. Somewhere along the way the few questions Alvey had originally meant to ask had multiplied by half a dozen, the questions becoming more and more personal by the moment.

Alvey intentionally cleared his throat to regain the blond doctor's attention. "As my partner just asked you Dr. Harlow, did you get what we needed?" he asked calmly, his trained mask once again in place.

Huffing loudly, the thirty-one year old doctor stuck his hand inside one of his lab coat's pockets, pulling out a single red and white ball capsule. "This is absolutely the first and final time I participate in your investigations. It's ridiculous that an outsider has to provide the police with equipment for their own tests!" he told them frankly as he lazily tossed the Poké Ball to the other side of the bed causing the capsule to open, letting out a bright red light that quickly materialized into a medium sized quadruped, tan colored, antlered Pokémon with black hoofs and a cream colored underbelly. The deer-like Pokémon looked at its surroundings for a moment before locking eyes with its trainer, who motioned his head towards the two officers. The Stantler turned towards the officers and lowered its head a bit before shaking it intimidatingly from side to side a few times, causing Emerson to jump up from his chair and back away a step or two.

"H-hey! Watch it Harlow! Keep your Pokémon under control!" he demanded a little hesitantly, causing the doctor to grin slightly.

"Oh, sorry about that. Stantler just has this thing about irritating people, can't stand them one bit. He usually listens fairly well but there are times when I can't stop him if he decides to charge," he replied matter-of-factly before focusing to the matter at hand, leaving Emerson to make his own conclusions.

Turning to Alvey, the doctor gave him a waiting expression. "Well, are you on hourly wages or something? The quicker we get this finished the better."

Alvey merely sighed as he pulled out some papers and a pen. "Yes, well, I believe that we all hope that. Anyway, the procedure we're going to use is called hypno-polygraph, a fairly new questioning technique developed to always get the person to answer truthfully and thus possibly quickening the investigation. The person is hypnotized into a state of mind in which they can only tell the truth, no matter how much they'd want to lie. So far the few pretests that we've preformed have been a success but this is the first time we actually use it on the field," he explained calmly before sparing a glance at the suddenly very quiet blue haired girl. "We have doctors supervising each procedure to protect the person from being made to confess things they didn't actually do."

She just stared at him for the longest time, trying to process all of the information she'd just learned. She really couldn't help but tell the truth, could she? She'd be forced to tell them everything she knew or more so what she didn't know. How strong would the hypnosis even be? What would they find out? Could they possibly make her remember things locked up in her subconscious? Would the effects be permanent? All these rather frightening thoughts raced through her mind, causing her to unintentionally freeze up while Dr. Harlow and the two officers discussed about the test.

She finally snapped back into reality when she felt something hit her across her forehead, causing her to gasp in shock. After the initial shock had subsided, she quickly figured out what had happened and whom she could blame for it. Locking eyes with her jerkish doctor, she gave him an accusing glare, though her display wasn't of much use when said doctor merely rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"It's common courtesy to answer the questions asked, not stare mindlessly at someone until they feel uncomfortable," he grunted as he wrote something down on a chart he'd received somewhere during the time she wasn't paying attention, wagging a pencil towards Emerson who in turn seemed to look slightly creeped out, she noted.

"_Hmp, serves him right,_" she thought as she turned her attention back to the blond doctor with an expectant look on her face. "You were saying?"

"Oh, nothing hugely important you know; just about the possible side effects you might experience after going through this test, such as permanent mental issues, autism, blaa blaa blaa and bad breath. But don't worry your little head about it, I've already accepted the possible consequences and authorized the test on your behalf, isn't that nice?" he spoke in mock excitement, sarcasm once again prominently present in every word he spoke. It still didn't stop her from getting angry at him, though.

Alvey once again cleared his throat in order to gain the bickering duo's attention and finally proceed with the test. "I can assure you miss that the test is perfectly safe. None of the test subjects have reported any side effects either so no need to worry. Now then Dr. Harlow, shall we begin? Like you pointed out earlier it'd be nice to finish this as soon as possible. I'm a married man after all and the misses tends to have a fit whenever I come home late."

Dr. Harlow gave him an irritated look and shrugged his shoulders in a couldn't-care-less type of fashion as he turned his attention back to the chart, quickly explaining what she should expect while in hypnosis. If things went as smoothly as he told her, other than the fact that she couldn't lie, she should be completely aware of everything around her, and aside from a mild dizziness, feel relatively normal.

She let out a long sigh as she somewhat unwillingly turned to look at the Stantler, the normal type Pokémon waiting for instructions from its trainer.

"The patient is to be sedated with a level 1 Hypnosis, keep it up until the end of the test," said trainer told his Pokémon, the Stantler immediately responding to the order by lightly shaking its head, causing the small bells on its horns to vibrate.

At first it seemed like nothing was happening and she began to suspect that hypnosis this mild didn't work on her, until suddenly she felt a small dizziness, her temporary vulnerability instantly catching the doctor's attention.

"Now listen up kid. You are to answer completely truthfully to all questions asked with no exceptions. Don't voice out any unnecessary thoughts or your own questions. Understand?" he told her in a surprisingly tranquil voice, no doubt part of the test protocol. Without yet fully registering what he'd said, she'd already nodded her head, her eyes widening upon realizing that the semi hypnotic state actually worked.

"_Well isn't that just wonderful?_" she thought dryly as she stared at the two officers beside her bed, Alvey holding a stack of papers and Emerson holding a medium sized notebook.

"Let's begin with the basics, shall we? State your name and social security number, please."

She would've yelled out in exasperation but thanks to her current state of semi-hypnosis it was practically impossible to gather up the energy for such an outburst, though it didn't stop her from trying. She mentally vented out her frustration by damning the person responsible for developing hypno-what's-its-name to oblivion.

"_This is going to be absolute hell,_" she thought as her mouth moved on its own accord and voiced out the first of the many 'I don't remember's she knew there were to come.

~.~.~.

After a seemingly never ending, mentally frustrating, completely useless hour and a half, the police were finally done with their questions, giving Dr. Harlow permission to snap her out of her 'calm and submissive' state, earning a grateful sigh from both her and the doctor's Stantler who had shown his slightly capricious traits of nature during the long task of keeping her hypnotized. The normal type was returned back into his Poké Ball shortly after having received a gentle pat on the head by his trainer, the simple act of thoughtfulness not going unnoticed by her as she decided not to pick a fight with the tired doctor like she'd planned on doing for the last half hour as a way of revenge. It'd never even crossed her mind that the man could actually be, well, affectionate towards anything living and breathing. For the first time during the eleven days she's been conscious, she was rather glad that she'd been wrong about something.

_I guess even a cynical jerk like him cares for his Pokémon,_ she thought with a small smile as she watched the normal type disappear with a flash of red, suddenly having a simple and innocent question pop up in her mind, having not really thought of the matter beforehand.

"Did I have any Pokémon with me when I was brought in?" she asked hesitantly, not sure what to expect. If she indeed had any Pokémon it could possibly make her a trainer, giving her (as well as the police) her first real lead on her background. She waited anxiously as she stared back and forth between the doctor and two officers; the later giving the doctor inquiring looks.

"You haven't told her?" Emerson wondered out loud to which Dr. Harlow merely shrugged.

"She never asked," he stated flatly, shoving the red and white ball capsule in his hand into one of his pockets. "Frankly I don't see how I'd be responsibly of telling her that since it has nothing to do with her rehabilitation."

"Hm, I guess not. But to answer your question young miss," Emerson replied and turned his attention back to the blue haired girl who surprisingly didn't say or do anything to correct him for very purposely slipping in the 'young' part. She was holding her breath, yet he couldn't say was the decision conscious or not. Turning a few pages from his notepad, he found his notes of her belongings the day she was found. The list wasn't long and his eyes quickly pinpointed a note discussing the contents of her bag.

"According to police report, the officers found two Poké Balls in your possession, though the other one was empty. We suspect that you ended up here due to a theft gone wrong; your possible attacker must have gotten hold of your other Pokémon before you lost consciousness. We've recently had a major breakout in thefts here in Johto, particularly near smaller towns. It's either that or the ball was empty to begin with," he concluded with a shrug of his shoulders.

The small piece of information almost made her heart stop; she actually had Pokémon. Did this mean she was a trainer? What other reason would there be for her to have any to begin with?

_God, this is so frustrating! If only I could remember…_

Not long after her more pleasant thoughts though, another thought came to her mind as she recalled Emerson's deduction of her situation.

"Thefts?" she repeated slowly, not really understanding what he meant at first. He couldn't possibly mean Pokémon thefts, could he?

The look on his face said otherwise, and she suddenly felt very naïve. The world was an ugly place underneath all its beauty; it shouldn't have been so surprising to her. "That can't be! Who'd do such a thing? And why?"

"Well young miss, if we knew the answer to that then we wouldn't have this problem. These cases are very difficult for us to handle; it's nearly impossible to always catch the criminals responsible because they tend to move quickly from place to place. Your case is even more difficult because we aren't even sure if you were indeed robbed because you can't remember anything about the incident," Emerson replied sounding oddly sincere. "One thing's for sure though; someone intentionally hurt you and left you to die. I assure you, young miss, that we are doing everything we can to catch this person."

The officer's words left her speechless for a while, her mind oddly empty as she tried to find the right words to say. The whole situation felt rather… practiced to say the least. She wasn't buying it. There was no way some stranger would react so passionately to her case. The lack of progress that they'd had with her case was an obvious indicator of the police's motivation towards her and possibly others like her.

Giving him a slightly wary glance, she nodded a bit, forcing a smile on her lips. "Yeah, thanks. In the meantime though could you possibly tell me about my Pokémon? Where is it? Is someone taking care of it?"

This time it was Alvey who answered her as he cut in just before his partner could blurt out anything unneeded. "No need to worry miss, your Pokémon is in good hands at the local Pokémon Center," he told her calmly, his face once again fairly emotionless. "Now then, our work's about finished for now so we'll be taking our leave for tonight miss. Thank you for your cooperation," he thanked her as both of the officers stood up from their seats, each exchanging a couple of words with a fairly irritated looking Dr. Harlow who wasn't really in the mood to talk, all but pushing the two officers towards the door. Emerson had already reached for the doorknob when he suddenly stopped and turned around, an inquiring look on his face.

"Hey, young miss? Would you mind if we gave you a temporary name to call you by? It'd help with the paperwork and stuff, you know," he blurted out bluntly, causing the doctor pestering him to open the door to roll his eyes.

Surprisingly, his partner actually seemed to consider the idea. "You know what Luke, for once in your life you're logic is making at least some sense," Alvey replied deep on thought and turned back to look at the girl, giving her an analyzing expression. "It's all the same for us whether you accept or not, but at least you'd have a say in what you want to be called from now on."

She shrugged her shoulders; at least she'd be spared from the 'young miss' title and any other stupid nicknames she'd been given. "Well seeing as I don't even have a choice in the matter what difference would it make if I told you what I want to be called when you obviously already have something planned out?"

"Yes, that's true. How very observant of you miss," Alvey replied with just a hint of amusement in his voice as he once again pulled out the stack of papers containing her statement, whirling a pen between his fingers as he stared at her for a moment before writing down something on the first paper. Emerson leaned over his shoulder to see what he'd written and let out a displeased grunt, turning his attention to Alvey.

"What's wrong with you man?! Naming her after my ex-girlfriend isn't cool!" he exclaimed sounding a little whiny, taking out his own pen and scribbling his own suggestion over Alvey's, giving him a challenging look.

"Well you can't name her after my wife either! It would make it too confusing," the black haired officer replied flatly, writing down yet another suggestion that was immediately rejected by Emerson as he tried to claim the stack of papers.

The situation was quickly becoming ridiculous as the two officers forgot where they were and started arguing about whom had the worst name suggestion, all the while writing down new ones in the process until finally Dr. Harlow had enough and forcefully grabbed the abused stack of papers from the men in blue.

"Shut your traps you idiots! This is a hospital, not some kindergarten!" he snapped at them and quickly glanced at the papers in his hands, frowning upon seeing the documents nearly ruined from all of the smudged in names. "Can't you two even act like decent officers of the law or is it just basic standards for police these days to have the intelligence level of a brain dead Slowpoke?" he barked out sounding very irritated, bringing a hand up to his head to massage his tired eyes.

All he wanted was to get rid of these two nuisances in order to _finally_ end his shift; to go home, have a beer and call it a night. This day had already been his worst day ever and he didn't need anything else to test his straining sanity. Why had he given the police permission to interview his patient in the first place? Why hadn't he just kicked them out? There was nothing he wanted more now than to call out his Stantler to ram over the two officers, tie them up, and throw them out of the window.

Letting his hand fall, his eyes caught the last name suggested - most likely by Emerson – and he couldn't help but freeze.

Everything went strangely quiet in the small room as all eyes were on the frozen blond doctor who was staring at the piece of paper with disturbing intensity. Very slowly, he forced his eyes away from the paper and pinned them on Emerson, giving him a murderous glare. The red head could only gulp as he waited for the inevitable.

"You. Out. NOW!" Dr. Harlow snapped venomously and shoved the stack of papers to Alvey. "Visiting hours are over. Permanently. Now get out."

"Aw, come on Miles! It's just a suggestion, there's no need to get that upset about it!" Emerson laughed nervously and gave his partner a pathetic look as if begging for backup. "Lina's a good name, isn't it Vince? It's just one word anyway, it'll suit her just fine!"

Alvey didn't even get the chance to respond as the doctor all but threw the two officers out of the room and slammed the door shut, thus ending their visit.

"I could seriously murder that imbecile," he murmured through gritted teeth as he rearranged the few stray chairs left beside the bed in order to calm down, though the likelihood of that happening after what the red haired officer had stated was close to zero. "Hmp, just a word. A person's name can't be referred to as a mere word. Darn idiot. And he wonders why he can't maintain a relationship," he muttered in a low voice, probably not even realizing that he was talking out loud.

Sensing that voicing out her current thoughts would only provoke the doctor even further, patient 199 settled on merely observing him as he finished with the chairs and made his way to the window, muttering something obscured under his breath as he pinned his gaze on something outside and just stood there. He wasn't acting like his usual self, well, like the doctor she'd begun to know during her eleven days at the clinic. Up until now, she'd never seen him clean or rearrange anything, always calling for a nurse to clean up after him after his numerous check-ups, or anything else he might come with if what the nurses gossiped about was true. He was without a doubt the type of person who preferred to take the Tauros by the horn when it came to speaking one's mind, but otherwise avoided unnecessary conversation or opinions, and his currant, mindless mumbling certainly wasn't all that important.

So why the sudden change? Perhaps he was just too tired to care about his actions anymore.

"_Or,_ _could it possibly have something to do with those officers from earlier?_" she wondered as she tried to make out something understandable from the doctor's quiet mumbling, though failing to do so. "_Dammit, so annoying… Maybe I should just ask him about it, he doesn't seem normal. Then again I don't want to seem too curious, he might get the wrong idea… _"

Her quiet debate was suddenly interrupted when she realized that she was staring straight into the doctor's irritated, dark brown eyes, the intensity of his heavy stare causing her to feel fairly uncomfortable.

"Instead of burning a hole through my head, why don't you just come out and say what's on your mind? If not, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd quit staring at me like a mindless idiot," he told her bluntly before walking back to the end of her bed and once again looking through her medical chart, flipping through the pages with mild interest.

"I wasn't staring!" she huffed loudly in defense, quickly turning her face away from the doctor's as she debated whether or not she should even bother asking anything, musing at the thought of guessing in how many words the doctor would answer. Now if she could only think of a fairly innocent question…

A sudden thought came to her mind that had somehow neglected to turn up mere minutes before. Trying to keep her face as blank as possible, she lifted her eyes from her hands and bravely faced the doctor. "Why didn't you approve of any of the names the police suggested for me? Does it really matter what they come to know me as in their investigation? It's not like they're giving me a new identity or something."

"It's not a case of my approval or not, it's because those two are idiots. Well, the ginger at least, Alvey I could tolerate if I wanted to," he grunted back seemingly indifferent, his eyes not leaving the chart for even a heartbeat as he continued browsing through it. "Armida, Belphoebe, Malvina. Those are just some of the names suggested. You're already the gossip around town and with a name that terrible it'd be sure to travel from city to city. In the off chance that you ever remember who you are, do you honestly want to be nicknamed something as absurd as Ottoline in Johto for the rest of your life?"

"…What the hell? Are those even real names?" she exclaimed in slight repulsion, suddenly feeling very grateful for the doctor's input on the matter, her sentiments towards the police officers plummeting down. She pitied the hopefully never-to-be-born future children of whomever thought that Bel-whatever-it-was was a suitable name for anyone. Hopefully her doctor wouldn't start referring to her as any of the suggested names. Ever.

A barely noticeable smug smile spread across the doctor's face upon witnessing her reaction to the terrible suggestions, musing at how easy it was to tell what she was thinking just by watching her face. "What did I say; idiots," he sighed heavily enough to empathize his point. "Those two don't understand the importance of names. Names have great value, meaning and influence, and to just randomly select one without putting any thought behind it can change a person's life without realizing it. It's pitiful how much a single word can affect us." He hadn't really been paying attention to what he'd been saying, a clear sign of just how tired he was, and only after noticing that the girl was actually listening to every word he'd been saying did he stop. Her intense blue eyes seemed to be glued to him and she had an unreadable expression painted across her face, making him feel somewhat uncomfortable. What had he blurted out again?

Shit.

He brought his hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, willing himself not to have a nervous breakdown. He'd sure be extraordinarily grateful when the day finally ended. "You're staring again. Stop that," he snapped tiredly, finding it too energy-wasting to even sneer.

"So, if names are that important to you then why don't you give me one?" she suggested casually, ignoring the doctor's temper.

A flat stare later she got her answer.

"Idiot."

"Something nice, thank you very much." She honestly didn't think he'd reply when he set down her chart and turned to leave, quickly turning the knob of her door before pulling it open. He paused just as he was about to exit, turning back to glance at her. After a moment he finally opened his mouth.

"Tabitha. From now on that's what you'll be called."

"Tabitha?" she repeated slowly, testing out the name. To be honest it wasn't half bad; it just wasn't exactly what she'd expected from him. She wouldn't have put it passed him to suggest something completely horrible, though you couldn't get more terrible than the names the police had come up with.

"_I seriously hope no one's actually stuck with any of those hideous names…_"

She was about to comment something about the suggestion when the door suddenly slammed shut and the doctor was nowhere in sight.

"_Typical,_" she thought as she listened to the quick pace of the doctor's footsteps until she couldn't hear them anymore. Judging by his pace he must've been in somewhat of a hurry, though she couldn't imagine why.

"_Maybe his shift ended and he gets to go home, lucky bastard,_" she thought bitterly and gave her ankles a pointed look. Fractured or not, she was going to get out of this clinic no matter what it took. She'd jump out of the window if she had to. She'd already figured out that the clinic's staff wouldn't let her out before she was 100% healthy and from what she understood, she still had at least a few more weeks before that was even remotely possible. Escaping seemed to be her only choice at the moment.

Giving an accusing glare at her ankles, she let out a frustrated sigh. "_Stupid chicken legs, it's all your fault…_"

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><p><strong>AN: **The first OC appears in the next chapter, finally, right? ;) Until then, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	7. Chapter 5 Sweet escape

**A/N: **Hi everyone! As you've probably already noticed, I kept my word and got this chapter finished before the next year. Honestly, I would've posted this sooner but lately I've been just too busy even consider login in. Luckily, my holiday starts in a weeks time so I'll probably have lots of time to write the next chapter :)

A huge thank you once again to my betas who help make this story even better :)

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><p>Chapter 5: Sweet Escape<p>

A young man yawned lazily as he leaned against the railing of the small ferryboat that was slowly but surely cruising through route 27, getting nearer to its destination by the minute. Although the speed of the vessel wasn't exactly breathtaking, he was thankful that he'd even made it on the small boat; having had to have kept a fairly swift pace for most of his journey from his hometown of Cerulean all the way to the Indigo Plateau where the ferry had set sail. From there it had been an overnight trip via ferry along routes 26 and 27 towards the final destination; New Bark Town, or more specifically, Johto.

_Johto,_ he thought tiredly as the first rays of sunlight glimmered across the horizon of seemingly endless waters. Yes, it had been a long, tiring journey but he was almost there.

With newfound excitement, he stretched to his full height and tried to peer for any signs of land, absently running a hand through his shaggy brown hair for a lack of anything better to do. He'd found it hard to entertain himself whilst on the ferry and it was beginning to affect his normally energetic personality, making him feel like a time bomb ready to explode if they didn't reach Johto soon.

Still seeing nothing but water, he focused his attention to the only other person on deck at the moment; a fisherman. Unsurprisingly, the man's attention didn't seem to be on his fishing, but rather on him, though the fisher tried to conceal his obvious staring. It was being to get irritating.

Turning back to the horizon, he could almost feel the man's eyes on him and after a moment of silence the remark that he'd been waiting for finally came. _Here we go again…_

"See anything yet kiddo? Bet you could see half of Johto with that height of yours," the man snickered dryly, his voice sounding like he'd spent a fair share of his life attached to a whisky bottle rather than fishing.

_Certainly smells like it,_ he thought as a sudden gust of wind sent the stench of stale alcohol into his nose.

"Hardly," he replied just as dryly and turned on his heals, starting to head back to the little room he'd occupied during the short trip, ironically having just seen the first signs of land beyond the horizon. There was nothing more he hated than people commenting about his height; a trait he didn't have any say in. Now standing at a more than adequate 6'6'', one could say he'd heard more than his fair share of less than amusing puns.

Stopping at his door, he quickly opened the rusty lock and crouched inside to get his things before he headed back on deck; relieved to see they'd almost made port. The sight of land and various buildings quickly changed his mood from irritated to excited once more as he almost bounced in place at the thought of what awaited him in his neighboring region.

Swinging himself over the railing as soon as the ferry hit the sand, he quickly saluted the captain who seemed to be having a mild heart attack up in the small captain's room, and started to make his way towards the town. He itched to get started on his adventures through Johto but before he left he knew he had to go visit his uncle down by the Pokémon lab.

_I mean, it'd be rude not to, since he's helping me fool my parents and all,_ he thought idly as he spotted the sign pointing to the lab, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as he thought about the situation he'd gotten himself into. _Man, I wish I didn't have to lie to them like this but what can you do? This is my dream after all._

The single red and white ball capsule in his trouser pocket could've weighted a ton as he finally made it to the lab. Suddenly feeling nervous, he took in a calming breath of air and grabbed the doorknob, smiling faintly as his eyes locked onto the single bracelet on his wrist. Now confident, he turned the knob and entered the building, thus starting for what he hopped to be the adventure of his lifetime.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Tabitha sighed in frustration as she sat strapped into a wheelchair, supporting her head with her hand as she watched the rather dull scenery of white walls and uncomfortable looking chairs slowly flow by. The nurse pushing her sure wasn't in a hurry getting her back from the clinic's shower rooms, even stopping a few times to chat with other nurses as though Tabitha and her were on some casual midday stroll - or in her case roll – through the clinic's hallways. It seemed liked the nurse was completely oblivious of the fact that her 'darling patient' was in a less than good mood.

It had been three whole days since her first interactions with the police and they'd yet to come visit since. When she'd tried to ask about it from her doctor, the man hadn't even given her a proper answer, leaving her guessing whether or not the police even took her seriously. The investigation wasn't proceeding as well as it seemed to in every TV-show, that's for sure. It was frustrating to say the least; having nothing else to do than sit and wait in total uncertainty while people close to strangers handled her matters.

_They must think that since I'm not a member of the community I'm not that important. Figures…_

After having finally been able to shower, one would've thought that she'd felt at least somewhat better, but truth be told; even though she'd temporarily forgotten about the police, the whole showering trip had only irritated her more. Not only had she been strapped to the wheelchair – her ass of a doctor had surely been behind that idea – for the entire time, the nurse accompanying her had been very persistent that Tabitha shouldn't or couldn't take a shower by her own, ending up having to have been washed by the nurse; something she never wanted to experience again. She felt completely and utterly helpless and humiliated, and it frustrated her to no end. And if that wasn't enough, they'd ran into Dr. Harlow on their way back, the whole encounter further making her regret that she'd demanded to shower that day.

There had been one perk to this entire thing though, and she tried to focus on the matter as they slowly approached her room.

The clinic's layout.

Up until now she'd been confined to her room, leaving her to base her 'great escape plans' on pure assumptions of the clinic's layout, but now after actually having been somewhere, she at least had some sort of idea where a few places were, specifically the nearest elevator and exit.

The clinic was apparently a three-story building, with her room stationed on the second floor. There were two elevators, the nearest being an entire hallway away from her room. She had yet to see the first floor though, and armed with only the knowledge that the exit was on the building's north side, she'd be winging it for the rest of the way.

The only real stumbling block in her plan was the clinic's staff; they all recognized her and knew about her slow recovery. Getting passed them wouldn't be easy.

Her legs were also a slight question mark; though she'd managed to put more and more weight on them and even walk about a bit, she still couldn't walk for very long without having the pain kick in. A wheelchair would help her maneuver through the long hallways but also might cause more attention on her. She'd noted some of the patients walking around the hospital seemingly aimlessly and none of the nurses paid much attention to them; as for patients in wheelchairs, well, that was another thing. Or maybe it had been just her.

Now back inside her room, the nurse unstrapped her from the chair and held out a hand for her to grab, pulling her from the chair and allowing her to take the mind-blowing two steps to her bed on her own. Once on her bed, the nurse rolled the chair closer to the door before she hooked her back to the ever-present IV bag. Tabitha was more than happy that she didn't have to be hooked to more machines, and from what she could tell, the IV bag would also be unnecessary in a day or two.

That was if she still felt like sticking around during that time.

"Now remember dear, by no means exhaust yourself anymore than you already have and just concentrate in getting better. Lunch will be served in an hour or so," the nurse slowly explained to her as if she was a little child, further irritating her.

She pinned her gaze to her window as a way to distract herself from totally losing it in front of the nurse. "Yeah I know, I do know how to tell time."

"Of course, I just thought I'd tell you anyway; so you'd have something to look forward to," the nurse replied as she gave her one last smile before turning around and started heading for the door. Before she got to it though, an announcement was made on the clinic's speakers, demanding that all available nurses were needed somewhere on the third floor, causing the nurse to abandon the wheelchair she was about to reach for and bolt out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

Tabitha stared at the door for a while, as if expecting the nurse to suddenly come back, but after a whole five minutes of nothing, she figured whatever was going on somewhere on the third floor was much more important than a misplaced wheelchair.

Suddenly she was hit by a sense of realization as she stared at the shut door.

_It's almost too perfect,_ she thought as she considered the opportunity she'd been presented with. It was almost midday, meaning the last of the group of elderly people that seemed to think the clinic was their second home had probably already left, probably leaving no one at the reception. All available nurses seemed to be a floor above her and she knew for a fact that Dr. Harlow was on his lunch break, thus excluding him from the picture. Her hand – now free from any bacteria - was almost completely healed and she was no longer in acute danger. In other words, she had no need for hospital treatment anymore.

So that meant…

"This is my chance," she murmured to herself, eyes still fixed on the door as if expecting someone to suddenly swing it open and crush her newfound hope. Her confidence grew when she noted that no footsteps could be heard on the other side, and with a quick glance out of her window, she decided.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, she yanked the IV needle out of her arm, hissing slightly as a small stream of blood started to leak out of the small wound. Without much thought, she grabbed her white blanket and flung it over her head and elbows, trying her best to hide her head as she slowly and very carefully took the necessary steps towards the door and awaiting wheelchair; figuring that the more she hid her characteristics the better. Legs already starting to hurt, she gratefully sat down onto her temporary way of transportation, readjusting the blanket before grabbing the doorknob, prying it open as silently as possibly. She peeked through the doorway, relieved to see an empty hallway save for a few chairs. Pushing the wheels to a slow roll, she tried to get the chair to turn right, and after what felt like an eternity, she finally figured out how the damned chair worked, turning only the left hand side wheel, finally making the turn.

_Now then, that wasn't difficult was it?_

Now turning both wheels, she was slowly but surely inching forward, closing in on the elevator that was less than a hundred feet away. She was on constant lookout as she rolled along the otherwise quiet corridor, her every sense on high alert as she whirled her head around whenever she thought she heard or saw something. She could almost hear her own heart beating in her chest as she got closer and closer to the elevator, her heart beating faster with every inch she moved. Suddenly seeing something glimmer in the corner of her eye, she almost skidded to a stop as she quickly turned to face whatever she'd seen; a pair of forgotten reading glasses, sitting neatly on top of a nearby chair. Still staring at the pair of spectacles, she slowly brought a hand up to her head, breathing out a sigh of relief and shaking her head, a slightly hysterical laugh almost escaping her lips.

_I'm starting to get paranoid, aren't I?_

Trying to regain her composure, she momentarily set her eyes on the pair of discarded spectacles, considering whether or not to take them.

_I guess the more I can disguise myself the better my chances are of making it to the exit._

Grabbing the glasses, she quickly put them on, thankful for the fact that whoever previously owned them hadn't had too bad of an eyesight. After a moment to check that the coast was clear, she reeled the wheelchair forward, at last making it to the elevator. She pressed the button and prayed that the arriving lift would be empty or at least free from staff. Holding her breath, the doors finally slid open, revealing an empty elevator, much to her shook. She'd been almost certain that this was the point she'd eventually get caught, yet for some unexplainable reason her escape was still manageable if her luck was to continue. Though, knowing her short history regarding good fortune, she highly doubted she'd manage to avoid running into trouble this time either.

Reeling into the elevator, she pushed the button with the number 1 on it and waited for the elevator to stop at the right floor. Focusing on the matter at hand, she took a few deep breaths, trying to steel herself for the enormous task ahead; locating the exit. She figured her best chance was to act as casual and calm as possible whilst looking for anything that pointed to the exit. Being overly jumpy and paranoid now could cost her her freedom.

The doors once again slid open and she rolled out of the small lift just as a nurse and an elderly woman stepped in, though fortunately the nurse's attention was on the woman who apparently was suffering from a nasty case of heartburn, and she didn't even glance at Tabitha as she stopped in front of the elevator, trying her best to figure out which way was which.

_So, if the exit is supposed to be on the north side and my window is on the… eastern side, then north would either be straight forward or backward. But I can only go left or right. Damn corridors, which way do I go?_

Figuring that the horizontal corridor would eventually have to split into vertical ones, she went with her gut and turned right, having had fairly good luck with her decisions so far.

_Seriously, if I'd known it'd been this easy to get around, I'd tried escaping days ago! Not that I'm complaining that no one seems to give a rattata's ass about where their patients wander off to._

After a minute or so of good paced reeling, she finally noticed a crossing corridor and tried her luck by turning left this time, almost falling off her wheelchair when she saw what waited at the end of the hallway; the reception. And more importantly…

"The exit," she breathed out incredulously as she slowly reeled the chair closer, feeling almost surreal. She was almost there, her long awaited freedom a mere fifty feet away…

"Hey, Amy! It's already passed twelve, time to change swifts!" a sudden female voice echoed through the otherwise silent corridor, and Tabitha instantly froze.

_Shit._

"Come on Amy, I've been sitting here all morning, I need a coffee break!" the woman continued calling out to the other, her voice rapidly losing patience. After another long, silent moment Tabitha could hear something being either dropped or slammed onto a table. "Amy?! I know you're there so get your ass over here! I want my break!" the woman's irritated voice rang through the hallways as Tabitha just listened to the situation.

She deduced that the woman shouting was probably the receptionist, and her frail hopes of escape seemed to shatter upon that realization. There was simply no way she could get passed her in this state; hardly being able to maneuver around in her wheelchair and wrapped in a blanket. It was just too suspicious. She'd be stopped, forcefully escorted back to her prison cell of a room and probably drugged into a state where she couldn't even move. She felt a shudder run down her spine and she shook her head in denial.

No, that wasn't going to happen. Not now! She was so close!

With determination she'd previously lacked, she gently reeled herself closer to the end of the corridor, peering around the corner to get a view of the reception. Sure enough, a middle-aged woman was sitting on the other side of the desk, ever so often glancing behind her.

_Come on Tabitha – or whatever my name is -, you've already gotten this far. You can do this; _she mentally cheered herself on, eyes searching for anything that could help her get to the exit. The receptionist seemed to be a little on the big side; perhaps she could just out speed the older woman by bolting for the exit; she was almost convinced that the middle-aged woman couldn't keep up with her for too long, even with her snail pace reeling.

_No, that wouldn't work. I'd only draw more attention to myself if I seem too obvious about my intentions. But what other choice do I have? How on earth do I get passed her unnoticed? _

"Amy!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on, I'm coming," another female voice replied lazily from somewhere behind the reception, though she obviously didn't have any interest in doing so as no footfalls could be heard; instead, a barely audible sound of coffee mugs clacking against each other echoed in the reception hall. "What's the point in sitting behind that awful desk this time of the day anyway when there's hardly anyone checking in? Honestly, just leave a note and bell and come drink your coffee. I'll go handle any 'customers' if I hear anything, okay?"

The receptionist seemed to consider the suggestion for a moment. "You know it's against the clinic's regulations to leave the reception unattained," she began crankily, but eventually stood up from the seat and started making her way towards the small room that her co-worker was so reluctant to leave. "But the second those doors open, you're dragging your behind back there, got that? I can't handle another wave of paranoid pensioners."

Tabitha felt like a magikarp on dry land as she tried to understand what had just happened, idly listening to the small talk and gossip of the two women. Slowly closing her mouth, she whirled her head around, her eyes searching for cameras. Was this actually happening? How could it possibly be this easy?

_I sincerely hope that I'm not on some gag show…_

Peeking around the corner once more and finding the reception empty, she weighed her two options. She could either continue by wheelchair and risk being heard if the chair were to squeak at the wrong moment, or she could walk – or crawl, depending whether or not her legs felt up for the prior - the remaining distance, though then she'd risk straining her ankles and possibly tripping, not to mention she'd be slower than a shuckle stuck in tar.

_I guess that settles it._

Reeling the chair forward for one last time, she began inching her way towards the set of electronic, sliding glass double doors, all the while keeping a close eye on the reception. She knew that the women couldn't ignore the sound of the doors opening and that they'd have to come check whether or not someone needed assistance. She only had one shot of pulling off the last part of her escape.

_God I hope this works._

Taking in a lungful of air, she steeled herself as her hands started turning the wheels as quickly as she could, drawing closer to the doors faster than she'd wished to even hope for, and with no time to either regret or think clearly, she skidded the chair to a halt as soon as the doors started to open, all but sending her flying off of the chair, barely gaining any sort of balance as she stumbled outside, having very little to say on the matter as she continued her less than controlled 'run' for several more meters, eventually losing her previous momentum and collapsing on the road leading to the clinic.

For the longest time she could barely even breathe properly, her senses on overdrive as she just sat frozen in place, waiting in horror for the moment that someone would come after her. She could feel the adrenalin rush through her body as she prepared to bolt or possibly fight at any given moment, her muscles tense and breathing shallow, just waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Her mind still in a haze, she tried to calm down her breathing as she slowly glanced back at the clinic, wondering where her captures were, finding no one chasing after her. She made use of the moment by breathing in one large intake of fresh air.

_Isn't anyone coming after me? There's no way those women wouldn't have heard me exit and when they see that wheelchair they'll know a patient got passed them._

She could feel her breathing start to settle as the remaining adrenalin lingered in her blood, slowly burning away with every passing second. A dull pounding was already starting to hit her ankles as she cleared her head and finally realized that she wasn't being followed, at least, not yet.

_What am I still doing here?!_

Getting up as fast as she could, she began slumping forward, trying to utilize the last of her adrenalin as her ankles became more pained with every step she took. She could feel her muscles already start to tire as she made her way towards some nearby houses, gritting her teeth as she willed herself forward, still not comfortable with the distance between her and the clinic. Finally running out of adrenalin, she was forced to stop and rest for a moment, and as she leaned against the fence of a small cottage, she quickly took in her surroundings.

She estimated that she'd at least gained close to a hundred meters between her current position and the clinic, now taking refuge in the closest neighborhood consisting of a few rows of duplex apartments and a few smaller cottages like the one which fence she was shamelessly taking advantage of. It was a nice looking neighborhood, an air of warmth and calm lingering around it. It seemed like one of those places where people never locked their front doors and left their car keys in the ignition from time to time.

_Seems like these people even leave their laundry out to dry,_ she thought idly as she suddenly remembered her current appearance; dressed in a hospital gown, legs bound in casts, and her head awkwardly covered with a blanket. The glasses she'd been wearing had fallen off during some point of her hasty retreat.

_Yeah, even a blind person could tell that there's something suspicious about this…_

Her eyes sought after the set of clothes she'd seen being dried on a clothesline on one of the yards, a smile forming on her lips as she forced herself to take the necessary steps towards the house, her mind set on what she needed to do. True; someone would be missing his or her laundry but really, what other options did she have? It wasn't like she had any money to buy clothes and even if she did she considered it highly unlikely that any shopkeeper in their right mind would sell her anything in her current condition.

Finally making it across the street, she quickly glanced around to see whether anyone had spotted her, and seeing none, she carefully opened the front gate and entered the yard, closing the gate behind her as she made her way towards the hanging clothes. Having reached the clothesline, she carefully felt through the available clothes, finding most of them either nearly or completely dry. With little to choose from, she yanked off a pair of moss green cargo pants and a basic black long-sleeved shirt before she retreated to a small playhouse a couple of meters away, seeking at least some coverage in order to change out of her horrible light blue gown. The clothes she'd picked were obviously a man's; the shirt would've easily fit a person three times larger than her, and the pants just barely stayed on her even after she'd torn off a piece of her previous attire as a sad excuse for a belt in order to secure the large and heavy pants. They did, however, have largish leg openings, so getting them on with her casts was relatively easy. Plus, with the large, dark colored shirt, the fact that she still lacked a bra was barely noticeable. This considered, she could've done much worse.

With the clothes issue solved, she found herself without any clear mission.

"What do I now?" she murmured out loud, finally daring to voice out her thoughts after having to have kept them suppressed for the last hour or so. She'd found herself talking to herself quite a lot as a means to vent out frustration and stay sane during her time hospitalized and the habit had apparently stuck. She wasn't exactly worried about the starting habit; as long as she remembered not to do it around others, she'd be fine. After all, she got the feeling that talking to one's self was considered strange.

"Well, I guess there's worse habits, like smoking," she thought idly, trying to get her thoughts in order.

Her top priority at the moment was probably staying free, and seeing as she'd just broken out of a hospital, there'd definitely be people looking for her. She hadn't really thought about what she'd do after getting released – or after having escaped, as it was the case.

What did she want? She couldn't remember where she lived or what she'd been doing before the whole hospital thing, so fundamental speaking she could do whatever she wished. It all came down to whether she was brave enough to carry out her whims.

"What do I want?" The question hung heavy as she sat hunched inside the small playhouse, her brain working on overdrive as she thought about the matter.

There were a lot of things that she wanted; a decent meal for one, as well as finally get rid of her horrid casts, but when it really came down to it, those matters could wait. Just barely.

_I want to know who I am. Why I'm here and what happened to me. I want to travel and see places and decide my own fate. I want to be free._

Since the police had proven to be nothing short of useless in solving anything about her, she'd have no choice but to find answers by herself. As of now, she knew absolutely nothing, and she didn't have anything else to go by other than the alias she'd been given. She didn't like the empty feeling she felt whenever she thought about her unanswered questions, and she knew she simply had to have answers before she lost her mind.

With that in mind, she'd decided; she wouldn't stop searching for answers before there were no more questions left unanswered. She didn't care how long she'd have to look or how far she'd have to travel, no; all that mattered was that she got her memory back. And this journey might be the trigger for it.

She felt a genuine smile form on her face as she crawled out of the playhouse, leaving the blanket and hospital gown behind, slowly rising to her feet as she looked around to see if anyone had seen her. Finding none, she decided to hoist herself over the fence, making her exit to the road on the other side of the house. It was, after all, a small, tightly knit community, and she wanted to avoid any suspicion if possibly; walking out of the front gate of a yard she clearly was a stranger to would definitely catch someone's attention.

Mustering up all her strength, she managed to lift her leg over the fence, leaving her sitting on top of the wooden fence as she pulled her other leg over, very carefully sliding off to the other side and landing with a light thud.

Taking a look around, she continued her way left, mind still set in getting as far away from the clinic – and her latest crime scene – as possible. As of now she only had one clear destination on her mind; the Pokémon Center.

_Now if I could only find it, _she sighed mentally as she slouched slowly along the road. Somehow she had the feeling that it would take her a while before she got there, the park benches beside the road looking more inviting by the step.

_I swear even a newly hatched torchic has more strength in its legs than me…_

__o.o.o.o.o.o

A pair of bloodied surgical gloves flew into a nearby trashcan as Dr. Harlow all but kicked open the emergency room's door on the third floor, cursing under his breath as he stomped out of the room, making his way towards the elevator. He'd been called off on his lunch break to perform a surgery when a patient's appendix had sudden burst, the surgery taking nearly an hour to finish before he was satisfied with the results. During one point of the operation they'd nearly lost the patient thanks to a nurse screwing up, but he'd pulled through it, damned if he lost a patient to something as common and easily treatable as internal bleeding. There were way too many people in that operating room to begin with as some moron had called for more nurses to aid in the surgery even though he was doing perfectly fine without the entire staff inside the small operation room. He'd have to have a talk with the senior physician about the incident, the thought irritating him to no end.

Already feeling a headache start to form, he quickly glanced at his wristwatch, displeased to see that it was already as late as one. He hadn't been able to eat nearly anything in the last eight hours and he was nothing short of famished, running only on a few sips of coffee he'd managed to enjoy before his lunch break had been interrupted. He thought about the sandwich he'd left on the employee's cafeteria table and frowned deeply, knowing it'd be long gone by the time he reached the cafe. His coffee was probably near arctic temperatures by now given no one had thrown it away.

Stopping by the elevator doors, he hit the down button with more force than it was necessary, feeling the need to vent out his frustration on something.

_Maybe I should go pay that kid a visit, _he mentally mused as the elevator finally arrived, stepping into the small lift and pressing the button that lead to the ground floor. He was tempted to go through with his whim but decided against it, figuring getting something to eat was his top priority at the moment, seeing as he doubted he'd get another chance for lunch again anytime soon.

He made his way to the employee cafeteria, noting that his sandwich was indeed missing, not even bothering to search for his forgotten coffee as he approached the self-service counter and poured himself a new, hot cup of coffee. Grabbing the first edible item on the counter, he turned on his heels and started making his way towards his office, figuring that was the best place he could attempt to finish his small lunch. Quickly unlocking his door, he stepped inside his office and pulled the door shut with his leg, gratefully making his way to his chair, finally being able to sit down after the tedious surgery.

He made short work of the egg and fish sandwich that had simply landed in his hand, and though the combination wasn't his favorite, it would have to pass. As he drowned down his coffee, he took a look at a list of the remaining patients he still had to attend to during his shift, feeling a tired sigh escape his lips as he glanced at his watch. Nine patients and less than two hours to go; it was manageable. He'd barely got any 'real' work done during the morning, as he'd been stuck with on-call duty. He was convinced that during his thirty-one years of existence he must have pissed off some higher power and karma was now getting him back for it, for the entire four hours of his duty the room had been packed to the max with what seemed to be a busload of the town's elders, all complaining about how this and this place ached, and so on. It had been hell on earth, at least as far as he was concerned.

Swallowing the last of his coffee, he got up from his chair and grabbed the list of his remaining patients, determined to get through them with time to spare. He'd almost reached his door when his office phone suddenly rang, the monotone ringing sounding quite ominous as he slumped back to his desk, answering the phone with his signature 'what'. He chose not to register what the nurse on the other line had just told him.

"I'm terribly sorry doctor but it seems that we're missing a patient of yours," the nurse told him in a calm, steady voice, as if not worried at all about the matter.

There was a long moment of silence before he finally answered.

"I'm sorry nurse, I must've heard you wrong," he answered, his voice hinting of slight disbelief as a tiny laugh escaped his lips. "What was it you wanted?"

He could hear the woman hesitate before she replied. "One of your patients is missing. We were making our lunch rounds and couldn't find her in her room."

_Her. Don't tell me it's who I think it is…_

He was silent for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts as the nurse held her breath on the other line, probably hoping that he'd take the news well.

"You. Bunch. Of. Incompetent. Airheads."

"I'm sorry sir we had no idea that she'd try anything like this please believe us we've tried to look for her but she's gone and no one's seen her…" the nurse desperately tried to explain herself, blabbering on and on a million miles an hour, further increasing his headache.

"Will you shut up?" he cut her off and raised his other hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Of all the days for this to happen, it just had to be today? Taking a calming breath, he resumed on the matter in hand. "When did you first notice that she was missing?" he asked sounding fairly monotonous, figuring that it was the best way in getting answers out of the woman.

"Half an hour ago. We thought she was just off to the toilet or something but when she still wasn't back a while ago we got suspicious. We've asked around the clinic but no one's seen her."

"That's enough, I'll take it from here," he sighed tiredly and hung up before the nurse could say another word. Slamming the list in his hands back onto his desk, he started making his way to the girl's room, severely startling anyone who had the misfortune of bumping into him during the way. A single nurse stood nervously beside the empty bed, practically squirming under his gaze as he entered the room.

"Well?" he gave the nurse a waiting gaze, giving her a chance to explain. "I assume you were in charge of the patient today."

The nurse swallowed. "Yes, I was. I took her to shower and escorted her back to this room. Then I heard the announcement on the radio and rushed over to the third floor."

"Did you lock the door?"

She didn't answer straight away, her eyes falling to the floor as she slowly shook her head. He rolled his eyes.

_Figures._

Turning around, he left the room, making his way back to the first floor. He needed to have a look at the security camera footage to determine if the girl had in fact escaped before he could report about it to the police.

Entering the security room, he quickly advised the clinic's two security officers to go through all shot footage from the last two hours and report back to him whether they found anything strange. With things rolling, he made his way back to his office to retrieve his patient list, damned if he couldn't finish his rounds before his shift ended, even with this slight complication.

_Honestly, that girl's more trouble than a bunch of kindergarteners high on sugar…_

He worked quickly and efficiently, checking up on all his patients and doing the necessary small talk and treatments that needed to be done. He was already on his way back to his office when his pager started going off, the security men finally having found something. He entered the small room, the men beckoning for him to come closer as they stared at a stop motion picture of a corridor on their computer.

"So we looked through all of the footage and get a loud of this," one of the men said, clicking the play-button, thus rolling the tape. What he saw almost made him speechless.

"What on earth…?" was all he could say as he watched the girl zoom across the front reception in a wheelchair and stumble out of the exit like a newborn deerling. He honestly felt like face palming at the situation, and he almost did hadn't it been for his ego. Instead, he settled for rubbing his tired eyes and sighing deeply. It looked like he'd have to contact the police, yet again.

_I hate my life._

o.o.o.o.o.o

Tabitha waited patiently for her turn as a group of young trainers before her left their pokémon to be treated at the Pokémon Center, idly glancing around the interior of the center as she stood near the counter. It'd taken some time but she'd managed to find the blasted building, having had to ask for directions not once but twice, reaching the center just before three pm. Her ankles hurt like hell by the time she collapsed onto the sinfully comfortable couches, almost making her forget the reason she'd sought out the center.

"Next please," the nurse called and Tabitha took a step forward, quickly smiling at the nurse as she gave her a bright smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, actually, I'm here for my pokémon. It was left here on the 19th of September in believe, though not by myself," she answered casually, having had time to think of what to say. She didn't feel like her statement was beyond suspicious, but it would've helped if she even knew what her pokémon was. Fortunately, the nurse seemed to believe her, quickly tapping something onto the computer next to her on the other side of the counter. After a short moment she'd finished her search, giving Tabitha an inquiring look.

"Are you by any chance talking about the pokémon that someone from the police brought in for treatment and storage? It's the only match I can find to your description; two Poké Balls, though the other's empty."

Tabitha felt something tingle in her stomach as she idly nodded her head in reply. "Yes, that's the one. Though I didn't know that the police were involved with this; all I was told was that my pokémon were ready and I could come get them."

The nurse gave her a curious look. "You don't say? In that case would you be able to tell me what your pokémon are? It's normal policy, just to make sure that trainers receive the right pokémon."

_Crap. I knew this wouldn't be this easy. But what should I say? I have no idea what's inside those balls…_

After a moment of furious thinking, she sighed heavily, giving the nurse a look that was no doubt nothing short from pitiful. "I'm sorry but I can't answer that question. You see, I was recently in an accident and I unfortunately lost my memory in the process. Up until a few days ago I didn't even know I had any pokémon to being with," she murmured sheepishly, putting her credibility and acting skills on line as she smiled sadly at the nurse. "I was only released this morning."

"Oh. OH!" the nurse seemed to remember something as she gave her a comforting expression. "You must be that girl they found a few weeks ago. I'm so sorry dear, it must've been hard for you," she apologized, focusing on her computer once more. With a few clicks and some tapping, she turned back to face Tabitha. "One moment please, you'll have your pokémon as soon as I'm back." With that, she turned around and momentarily disappeared into a backroom, soon returning a small tray in hand, two red and white ball capsules sitting soundly atop it. Laying the tray on the counter, she gestured towards it with a smile. "Here you are, all healed up and ready to go."

Tabitha hesitated for a brief moment before she reached for the two balls, not really sure what to do with them, deciding to merely hold onto them for the mean time. She did, however, manage to mutter something resembling a thank you to the nurse as she moved away from the counter, quietly making her way to the giant map of the region that hung on the wall on the far end of the building. Stopping in front of the map, she studied it for a minute or so, quickly pinpointing her current location thanks to the red sticker that symbolized the town.

_Where should I head now? It's more than apparent that I'm not from this town so there's no need for me to stick around here. Maybe I should try a larger city like Violet City; there seems to be a gym and everything, and if I'm indeed a trainer, maybe they'll recognize me there, provided that I was heading back from there._

Sure, the probability of her challenging the gym was slim but she figured it wouldn't hurt to try. If anything, she'd had two pokémon with her, meaning she might have tried her luck at the gym. Then again she'd been found on a route leading towards Violet City, suggesting that she might have only been heading towards the city; though who's to say she wasn't travelling in the opposite direction?

_In that case, maybe I should try New Bark Town? I heard that trainers usually start their journeys from there after a meeting with the professor; maybe I went to see him before I traveled to Cherrygrove? Who knows, I could possibly be from that very same town…_

The simple decision of where she should travel was beginning to frustrate her as she weighed out her two possible options, both having their merits. She finally ended up choosing the one that was closest; New Bark Town. It was only a mere 5-mile walk away; she could handle that.

Feeling a jolt of excitement run through her body, she started making her way towards the exit, happy to finally have a heading, and possibly a step closer to find out something about her past.

o.o.o.o.o.o

"So Jonah, are you heading somewhere in specific?" a man in a white lab coat asked in good manner as he escorted his eighteen-year old nephew back outside of the Pokémon Lab of New Bark Town. He had been positively surprised that Jonah had decided to pay him a visit before embarking on his first ever journey, even though knowing the boy's personality. He was probably struggling not to break into a run the moment they said their goodbyes.

He felt a smile form on his face as he looked at the energetic boy. _I hope he doesn't get into too much trouble; I'll have a hard time explaining anything more serious than cuts and bruises to his parents._

Jonah shrugged his shoulders at the question. "I haven't really thought about it. I guess I'm just going wherever the wind takes me, you know?" he replied casually, rubbing the back of head sheepishly. "After all, I'm new to this stuff and to be honest I don't really know what I'm doing. But it's alright, I'll figure it out, eventually."

"Well, I have no doubts that you couldn't," his uncle replied smiling, opening the lab's door when they finally reached them. "Good luck to you Jonah. Don't be a stranger," he said smirking, offering his hand to his nephew, who in turn ignored it completely, pulling him into a hug instead.

"Thanks uncle, I'll call you whenever I remember, okay?" Jonah grinned and let go of the older man, raising his hand for a quick wave. "See you around."

With that, he was off, his footsteps almost unconsciously quickening as he walked through the small town, every step getting him closer to the town's exit and the beginning of the next route. When he finally reached the town borders, he could feel his excitement peak as a vast field of grass opened before him, a well-worn and travelled path snaking through towards the horizon. He quickly dug up the town map he'd received from his uncle and pinpointed his current location, looking up the next town to estimate how long it would take to get there.

_Hm, seems like the only logical place to head would be Cherrygrove, and then north towards Violet City. I think I remember there being a gym in Violet City; maybe I should try the Johto League Challenge?_

He continued examining the map, noticing that the first route suddenly split into another about half way towards Cherrygrove. Route 46, as it was, would eventually lead to Blackthorn City.

_I guess that'd be another possibility. Then again it's much farther than Cherrygrove, I think I'd run out of patience along the way. I guess that leaves me only one choice._

He repacked the map into his bag and took his first steps onto Route 29, walking in a fairly quick pace, deciding that he'd at least make it to the next city by nightfall. He didn't think he'd be ready to sleep outdoors just yet, and with what he'd heard, local Pokémon Centers offered travelling trainers a place to stop and rest for the night; that was, for a price. He grabbed his wallet from his trouser pocket and took a look inside, a slight frown forming on his face as he looked at the small amount of money that he still had, most of it having been spent on his long journey from Kanto to Johto. Letting out a nervous laugh, he returned the wallet back into his pocket and ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

_I'll have to start battling people soon if I want my adventure to last more than two days._

It seemed like no matter where one travelled, you could always count on something uniting the world; money. Pokémon trainers, especially good ones, tended to be rolling in cash, and seeing as it was a common career path for many, the Pokémon industry was doing way better than others that didn't have anything to do with it. Jonah himself had always wanted to become a trainer – no for the money of course, though it brought a nice plus to it all – but his parents, especially his mother, had been absolute about him finishing school and attending collage, telling Jonah over and over again that he couldn't handle life as a trainer. He'd finally decided to break free from his otherwise sheltered life when his parents hadn't stopped pestering him about collage, and the lie about an internship at professor Elm's lab in Johto had rolled off his tongue with little difficulty. To his surprise, his parents hadn't doubted his word, all too happy that their son could possibly gain a future career out of the supposed internship, and he'd soon found himself free to travel and live as he pleased.

Once again the Poké Ball in his pocket felt heavier than it actually was, and with a long sigh Jonah pulled it out of his pocket, staring at the red and white capsule pensively. The small ball was a gift from his parents, figuring he'd need some sort of partner to help him – as well as look after him, he suspected – during his internship at the lab, having no idea that they'd just provided their son with his starter pokémon. Jonah, of course, had been nothing but happy about the gift, yet for some reason during the last day or so he'd also felt a little guilty about it.

_Maybe I should call them and tell them the truth,_ he thought idly, considering it for a moment before shaking his head. No, he'd wait for a while. He had to prove that he could take care of himself before informing his parents.

"Yeah, that's what I'll do! I'll show them I can handle being a trai- WHOAH!" his speech was suddenly interrupted as his foot got stuck on something, and due to his height, he lost his balance immediately and tripped, soon finding himself taking a closer look at the consistency of the worn-out path.

"Ow, that hurt," he moaned groggily as he turned to look at what he'd tripped over, surprised to see a familiar looking small, purple mouse-like pokémon laying flat against the road. "Oops, sorry about that little guy, or girl, whichever you are," he nervously apologized to the rattata that was only now trying to stand up. "I didn't really see you there… no hard feelings, right?"

Now back on all fours, the tiny mouse gave him a hostile look as it took a step towards him and bared its sharp teeth, giving no chance to think twice about how it felt about the situation.

"Oh no," Jonah gulped as he quickly got up and started to back away from the clearly angry pokémon. He didn't like how things were turning out. Rising his hands, he tried one more time for a way out of the situation. "Couldn't we solve this peacefully? I apologized didn't I?"

The rattata growled at him and charged towards him.

_Shit._

Jonah broke into a run and continued following the path, ever so often glancing behind him to see whether the pokémon pursuing him had given up, though it seemed like it was very persistent to get even with him and was easily keeping up even though he nearly ran at his full speed.

_Uh man, this is just my luck! Look at me; getting chased by a wild pokémon. I bet I look pretty pathetic, even for a rookie trainer…_

A sudden realization popped into his head as he continued being chased by the rattata, and he stopped abruptly, turning around to face his pursuer.

"Why am I running when I have a perfectly good pokémon to battle with?" he wondered out loud, quickly reaching for the Poké Ball in his pocket and rather confidently throwing it into the air, revealing the Growlithe he'd gotten from his parents.

The puppy pokémon barked out its name a few times and happily jumped against Jonah's legs, feeling extremely excited to be outside its Poké Ball. Jonah tried his best to get it to concentrate, awkwardly pushing it back down as it continued jumping beside him.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you too but we can play later, okay? Right now I'd really need your help," he told it and pointed at the rattata that had stopped a couple of meters away, probably to access the situation before it decided to attack, trying to tackle the fire type.

"Alright Growlithe, get ready to…" Jonah yelled confidently before momentarily freezing, just then remembering that he had no idea what moves his pokémon knew. With no time to think about it further, he gave his command. "Um, Growlithe, dodge and then do… something!" he told his awaiting pokémon, the fire type cocking its head in slight confusion but obeying all the same, jumping quickly to the side in order to avoid being hit by the small normal type and then, unsure of what its trainer wanted from it, charged at the rattata teeth bared, latching onto the other using Bite.

"That's it, keep it up Growlithe!" Jonah cheered, watching as his pokémon once more bit its foe, that being enough to end the rattata's hostile intentions, sending it scampering away as fast as it could. With his very first wild battle over, Jonah rushed over to his fire type to congratulate it, dropping to his knees and petting his Growlithe that in turn happily barked at him, pleased at bring praised.

"That was just too awesome! Man, I can still feel the adrenalin in my veins!" Jonah marveled, feeling as though he could do anything at the moment. If battling always felt like this then he'd certainly continue it!

Grinning happily, he reached into his pocket for his Poké Ball, and with one more praise to his energetic companion, he called it back to rest inside the capsule.

_Now then, who says I can't handle being a trainer?_

* * *

><p><em><em>**A/N: **I took a few liberties with the layout of the routes connecting Kanto and Johto, I hope that doesn't bother anyone.

Jonah is the OC of zombicidal-maniac


End file.
